But no worries Chicagoans — it’s just for the summer.

Determined to prevent the traditional surge in summer violence, Mayor Daley on Wednesday ordered police “in battle dress” to use roadside safety checks, dog searches and high-tech license plate readers to establish an unprecedented weekend presence in high-crime neighborhoods.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had anything at this level before,” said Police Supt. Phil Cline.

[...]

“As far as we are concerned, it is unacceptable. Our object is to create a very visible police presence, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, to deter gang-bangers and reassure law-abiding residents that the police are out in force,” he said.

The Chicago Police Department is already saturating high-crime neighborhoods with its Targeted Response Units, gang tactical teams and undercover drug missions using up-to-the-minute crime figures provided by the Deployment Operations Center.

[...]

But, beginning June 2 and continuing every Friday and Saturday night in June, July and August, they plan to step it up a few notches.

Officers from the Targeted Response Unit and Special Operations Section will be dressed in black battle fatigues and flak jackets. They’ll be backed up by command vans and light trucks.

If that’s not enough to make police presence known, “Operation Safe Summer” also has another element: roadside safety checks in neighborhoods plagued by gang violence in partnership with the Illinois State Police and Cook County Sheriff’s Department.

The city of Fresno, California tried this in the mid 1990s. The city employed a SWAT team to patrol high-crime areas full-time. Anyone on the street at any time was subject to be stopped, searched, and entered into the police department’s computer system. One cop told a reporter from the Nation, “If you’re a young black man and you’re not in our system yet, there’s something wrong.”

The city discontinued the practice after a barrage of lawsuits and allegations of civil rights violations, though proponents say they pulled the SWAT team because it had “fulfilled its mission.”

This entry was posted on Monday, May 29th, 2006 at 8:59 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.