Maryland city testing nightly police checkpoints into neighborhoods

Police begin nightly Newtowne checkpoints

By RYAN JUSTIN FOX

Hometown Annapolis | Nov 15, 2008

The city Police Department has kicked off a monthlong, anti-crime initiative on Newtowne Drive, including nightly checkpoints to stop all motorists entering neighborhoods along the street.

The initiative, dubbed “Safe Zone,” began Nov. 5, and includes community events and police checkpoints, a tactic used in Baltimore, but that has proved controversial in Washington, D.C.

“We took the good points and imported what works best for Annapolis,” city Police Chief Michael A. Pristoop said during the City Council meeting Monday. “It’s going very smoothly.”

On Thursday, city Housing Authority Executive Director Eric Brown said “This is not just police standing on the corner stopping people. … When the police pull out, we hope the community will be more engaged.”

The Newtowne 20 complex, a city Housing Authority property, is located at the end of Newtowne Drive. There is also a neighborhood of subsidized housing along Newtowne Drive.

The checkpoints are set for six days a week and should run until the end of the month or as long as police officials see fit. Patrol units are set up at checkpoints down Newtowne Drive, closer to the residential areas.

Also during the meeting Monday, Alderman Sheila Finlayson, D-Ward 4, whose ward includes Newtowne Drive, lauded the initiative. It was needed because the area has experienced an uptick in crime, she said.

“I feel like crime has been moving toward my ward as they’ve cleaned up other parts of the city,” Ms. Finlayson said last week. “We need to restore some security.”

The police department did not provide the number of calls received for service along Newtowne Drive, but a check of the online crime report listings used by the department shows that, within the past month there were nearly a dozen crimes reported, mostly regarding violent crimes in the neighborhoods along Newtowne Drive.

Chief Pristoop said that the goal of the checkpoints is not to arrest individuals, although police have made several drug and alcohol-related arrests.

Chief Pristoop has shifted many strategies since he was hired full-time this summer, including modernizing department technology and increasing police patrols and presence in troubled neighborhoods.

The idea for the “Safe Zone” comes from tactics that were implemented during Chief Pristoop’s tenure with the Baltimore City Police Department.

But civil liberties groups sued the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., after it set up police checkpoints in the Trinidad neighborhood this summer.

A federal judge ultimately upheld the checkpoints.

Several residents who were gathered Thursday at the bus stop near Skippers Lane appeared apathetic and unfazed by the checkpoints. They wished to remain anonymous, but said that the police are always in the neighborhood anyway.

The Annapolis “Safe Zone” initiative, in part, is made possible through a federal grant for the city’s Capital City Safe Streets Coalition formed earlier this year. Some of the overtime costs to have officers participate come out of the department’s general budget, Chief Pristoop said.

The initiative will probably be used in other troubled communities within the city, but the chief would not say when and where specifically.

This weekend – also as part of the “Safe Zone” initiative, but from its outreach component – there will be a job and health fair in the Newtowne Drive area.

On Nov. 8, police sponsored a youth day held along Newtowne Drive. There was food, music and activities for neighborhood children, Chief Pristoop said.

City officials said the police department made sure residents in the neighborhoods along Newtowne Drive were informed about the initiative and about the checkpoints.

Council and police officials said patrol units knocked on every door informing residents of their plans.

Carl Snowden, a former Ward 5 alderman, and current director for the state Attorney General’s Office for Civil Rights, said he approves of the way police are handling the initiative.

“It appears they’ve taken a holistic approach,” he said. “We’ve known from 20 years of research that just locking people up doesn’t work. These particular tactics can be effective if coupled with the outreach approach.”

Mr. Snowden said he plans to survey neighborhood residents to see if they’ve had any trouble with the checkpoints.

But that isn’t a concern, Ms. Finlayson said. “We did all the preparatory work. … I think (the residents) have felt powerless. They’ve realized they’ve got to do something.”