Police Employ Checkpoint to Cut Street Crime

LAWRENCE, Mass. â€”  Residents of a crime-plagued neighborhood here were required to travel through a police checkpoint Monday just to get home.

Police said they were employing the unusual tactic because they are desperate to stem such crimes as drug dealing, often to buyers from suburban communities.

“This is not an occupation army coming in and setting up a police state; this is part of community policing,� said Police Chief Allen W. Cole.

“This is martial law without the federal troops,� countered John Roberts, director of the Civil Liberties Union in Massachusetts.

Police issued passes to residents to come and go. Those without passes could enter the neighborhood but only after having their vehicle identified at a roadblock of squad cars and yellow barrels.

Officers recorded the license plate numbers and planned to send a letter to the owner saying the car was seen in that area.

Roberts said his group probably will challenge the measure in court.

Police say the barricades in the four-square-block area will be in place 18 hours a day for an indefinite period.

After one officer was fired at and another had a gun drawn on him within the last 10 days, police canvassed residents, who said they would support barricades.