D.C. Hood Gets Checkpoints and Cameras!

Radley Balko and others took D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty over their knees when the latter initiated checkpoints in the violent neighboorhood of Trinidad (while simultaneously diving at any and every loophole that would have allowed him to ignore the ruling in DC v. Heller), but it seems the criticism fell on deaf ears: Fenty and the MPD are blazing ahead with a plan to install 30 police cameras in Trinidad, using funding from Target and Sprint Nextel, and despite the objections of At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson. The best part of the whole ordeal? Mendelson's instistence that "[n]o crimes are solved [using police cameras] that couldn't have been solved otherwise—that's generally the rap."

It's kind of refreshing to hear a D.C. politician speak out against potential abuses of police powers—even if only on the basis of utility.

Brian Taylor wrote a balanced reason piece on police cameras in 1997 (back before the cams were commonplace). And in case you missed it, Brian Doherty has the 411 on D.C.'s latest attempt at circumventing the Second Amendment.