Helena curfew ends but focus on crime expands
Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The all-day curfew in a crime-ridden area of Helena-West Helena expired Tuesday, but police plan to start cracking down on lawbreakers in similar ways in other troubled parts of the city.
Police will continue to question pedestrians and drivers in new “saturation zones” and carry assault rifles and shotguns there. They also will enforce a curfew for minors during school hours and at night, operate checkpoints and increase foot patrols, police and city officials said Tuesday.
The Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 at a special meeting Tuesday to adopt the new saturation-zone plan. As part of that plan, Mayor James Valley let his emergency curfew of a 10-block area on the west side of the city expire at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Valley said he wants to spread the curfew-zone concept to other parts of town because it worked. Police have made 32 arrests in the curfew zone since Thursday, when Valley issued the order.
But the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas noted that it’s illegal for police to stop and question residents without probable cause and raised concern that any arrests made in the new saturation zones could be thrown out in court.
Ronald Scott, assistant police chief, said the saturation zones would move around town to follow crime. He said the city would be divided into six zones and that the saturation zones would go wherever statistics show an increased police presence is needed.
He didn’t know where or when the saturation-zone effort would begin.
Valley said it’s likely the saturation zones will target historically drug-infested areas near the city housing projects, the Walker Street levee and Dinan Street.
The mayor also plans to ask the City Council to approve $ 5, 000 more each month in overtime for the Police Department to staff the saturation zones. He also plans to ask for additional money for new surveillance equipment and to rent vehicles for undercover work.
Last Thursday, police began enforcing a curfew after a group of men jumped a man who owed them money and fired guns into the air and into homes nearby.
The 32 arrests made in that curfew zone included 22 for misdemeanors and 10 for felonies. No one was arrested over accusations of violating the curfew.
The arrests included charges of possessing drugs or firearms, drug dealing and numerous driving violations. The police also arrested one wanted fugitive.
Scott said the Police Department made about 120 arrests during July.
“We had to get the criminals’ attention. Now we’ve done that, and we need to continue doing so,” Scott said. “We are going to keep doing everything in our power to keep our people safe. That’s the bottom line.” Valley said the saturation zones would be “tempered some” as compared with the first curfew zone.
The primary difference is that law enforcement officers will no longer push residents to stay inside their homes and off the streets if they aren’t traveling somewhere.
“Under the old curfew, everyone was subject to some minimal intrusion,” Valley said. “Now, if people are sitting out in their yard talking, it’s not going to be a big deal. But if they are out drinking or smoking a blunt, that’s going to be a problem.” Valley and Scott said police officers will continue stopping and questioning people in the saturation zones, just like they did in the first curfew zone. As long as a person has a “legitimate reason” for moving through the saturation zone, Valley said, he’ll be allowed to pass.
“And a legitimate reason can be basic. They don’t have to have a great reason,” Valley said. “It can be as simple as ‘because I am going for a walk. ’” “The officers are going to use common sense and traditional police tactics,” Valley said.
Holly Dickson, staff attorney for the Arkansas ACLU, said it’s unconstitutional for Helena-West Helena’s police officers to stop and question residents unless they suspect that the passers-by committed or are about to commit a crime.
“The Fourth Amendment and citizens’ right to travel are not suspended because the city has a high crime rate,” Dickson said.
She said the policy may yield arrests that get criminals off the streets temporarily, but it is counterproductive in the longrun.
“When your initial stop is not lawful, what you are doing is risking placing your prosecutions in jeopardy,” she said. “And exposing the city to liability for making an unlawful arrest.” Curfews are not a crime-fighting tactic unique to Helena-West Helena.
On Monday, officials in Hartford, Conn., announced plans to launch a 30-day, citywide evening curfew for youths starting Thursday.
Sarah Barr, Hartford’s director of communications, said the curfew plan followed a weekend shooting that killed one man and injured six others after a parade, including a toddler and 7-yearold.
“We’re saying, ‘ That’s it. Enough is enough. We aren’t taking this anymore, ’” Barr said.
Helena-West Helena previously issued an evening curfew for adults and youths in 2006. Residents organized a petition drive, and the curfew was ultimately lifted.
Martha Coleman, a 15-year resident of Anderson Street in last week’s curfew zone, said she’s glad Valley took drastic measures to clean up her street.
Before the curfew, Coleman said, gunfire woke her every other night. She spent many nights sleeping on the floor for fear of getting shot.
After the curfew went into place, she said, she slept soundly for the first time in years.
“It’s a danger zone out there,” Coleman said. “The ACLU needs to get their butts down here to spend the night in my neighborhood. I guarantee you they’ll leave the night they get here.” But Obira Manuel, who lives a few blocks north of last week’s curfew zone, said the police are going too far and that the entire concept of a curfew zone is “bizarre.” She said two police cars forced her to pull over, boxed her in and stuck a spotlight inside her car while she was driving along Anderson Avenue on Friday about 8 p.m. The officers let Manuel pass and continue on to the grocery store, but the encounter scared her.
“It feels like I’m in Alcatraz or something,” she said. “It feels like I need a lawyer and a gun.”
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