Comments on: Red and White, But Where’s the Blue?

Comments on: Red and White, But Where’s the Blue? http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2007/07/11/red-and-white-but-wheres-the-blue/ 68.3 Square Miles of D.C. News and Opinion Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:05:00 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Jeep Johnson http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2007/07/11/red-and-white-but-wheres-the-blue/comment-page-1/#comment-17567 Jeep Johnson Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:45:06 +0000 http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/index.php/2007/07/11/red-and-white-but-wheres-the-blue/#comment-17567 I am sure popping off fireworks is a misdemeanor, which means the DC cops actually have to see the fireworks being popped off to make an arrest. Which is unlikely unless the miscreant is the host of a backyard/block party and can't scoot away around the corner as soon as sirens are heard or a kindly friend lets him know a silent cop car has just entered the block. Even if the miscreant is found among strewn around detritus of illegal fireworks, unless a witness is willing to make a citizens arrest on his/her own formal complaint that them miscreant did, indeed, set off illegal fireworks, the police are powerless to proceed further, since they didn't see the misdemeanor being committed. That's why the police "generally don't arrest people ...," they can't, legally, unless they see the misdemeanor crime as it happens. Apparently Christine Macdonald feels it is productive for the police to scream around the city from one empty block where fireworks had been set off to another, 25 times an hour, in the hopes of scaring off the kids, adult or juvenile, doing it from doing it again. [ I am sure popping off fireworks is a misdemeanor, which means the DC cops actually have to see the fireworks being popped off to make an arrest. Which is unlikely unless the miscreant is the host of a backyard/block party and can't scoot away around the corner as soon as sirens are heard or a kindly friend lets him know a silent cop car has just entered the block.

Even if the miscreant is found among strewn around detritus of illegal fireworks, unless a witness is willing to make a citizens arrest on his/her own formal complaint that them miscreant did, indeed, set off illegal fireworks, the police are powerless to proceed further, since they didn't see the misdemeanor being committed.

That's why the police "generally don't arrest people ...," they can't, legally, unless they see the misdemeanor crime as it happens. Apparently Christine Macdonald feels it is productive for the police to scream around the city from one empty block where fireworks had been set off to another, 25 times an hour, in the hopes of scaring off the kids, adult or juvenile, doing it from doing it again.

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