What the heck? City government is putting a 24 hour curfew on parts of town?
Ark. city neighborhood under 24-hour curfew
Associated Press - August 10, 2008 8:34 PM ET
HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (AP) - Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley says he ordered a round-the-clock curfew and heavy police patrol in a ten-block section of town because the neighborhood was "under siege with repeated gunfire, loitering, drug dealing and other general mayhem."
Valley ordered the emergency curfew Thursday, effective immediately. It was still in place today. He said it would remain in place as long as the problems persist or until the city council can come up with a long-term plan at its August 19th meeting.
Thursday night, 18 to 20 police officers carrying M-16 rifles, shotguns and night-vision scopes patrolled the "curfew zone." They arrested about eight people and confiscated drugs and loaded weapons.
Under Valley's order, officers do not tolerate loitering or "hanging out." Officers can stop and investigate all foot traffic, bicycle, horseback, mo-ped, motorcycle, riding mower, golf cart or other means of transportation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas says the curfew is "blatantly unconstitutional" and has demanded that Valley lift the order immediately.
Evictions, fake cops raise questions about Arkansas curfew
POSTED August 11, 11:59 AM
Hand-drawn map attached to the Helena-West Helena curfew order
Much is being made of a virtual declaration of martial law in a small town in Arkansas -- and of the ACLU's predictable, and commendable, objection to the same. Largely unnoticed, though, is the troubling fact that the "state of emergency" may create an opportunity for local criminals.
Invoking an ordinance relating to civil emergencies in response to a surge of violent crime in parts of the town, Mayor James Valley of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, imposed an all-day curfew, with "[n]o loitering, standing or 'hanging-out'” permitted.
Less well-covered is the fact that the text of the order, available at Mayor Valley's blog, also allows for forcible evictions of people from homes where crimes have been reported.
The Code Enforcement Department has been directed to pursue Nuisance Abatement (Evictions) for those persons residing in homes, in the affected areas, where at least three (3) criminal violations have occurred within the most recent time period allowed to be considered by law.
People aren't just being driven from the streets -- they're also being tossed from their dwellings as local officials suspend fundamental rights in the name of law and order.
Local police are responsible for enforcing the curfew, of course. The Associated Press reported, "Thursday night, 18 to 20 police officers carrying M-16 rifles, shotguns and night-vision scopes patrolled the "curfew zone." They arrested about eight people and confiscated drugs and loaded weapons."
That's disturbing news all by itself. The cops have been given carte blanche to run roughshod over an already troubled neighborhood -- even angels would have difficulty wielding such power without trampling people's rights, and police are people, not angels.
But there's reason to wonder if some of the uniformed enforcers wandering the streets of that unfortunate community are actually opportunists. Just last month, The Daily World, the local newspaper, warned that uniforms had been stolen during a break-in at an officer's home.
“Unless you know who the person is it is a good idea to find out who’s outside before opening your door to just anyone,” said Col. Fred Fielder of the Helena-West Helena Police Department.
A state of emergency that empowers police is quite an opportunity for anybody nervy enough to simply pretend to be a police officer. It's bad enough to open your door to a government official who wants to force you from your home. It's worse to open your door and discover that those officials you have good reason to fear have simply handed a weapon to the freelance thugs.
Helena-West Helena Expands 24-Hour Curfew, ACLU Protests
City Under Lockdown as Aggressive Police Operation Underway
Last Edited: Tuesday, 12 Aug 2008, 12:22 PM CDT
Created: Tuesday, 12 Aug 2008, 12:22 PM CDT
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By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press Writer
HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (WHBQ FOX13 myfoxmemphis.com) -- Police likely will expand their 24-hour curfew patrols beyond the 10 blocks currently watched by officers armed with military rifles and night-vision goggles, the police chief said Tuesday.
Police Chief Fred Fielder said the patrols have won the support of community members and city leaders in the wake of random shootings in a neighborhood beset by drug trafficking violence. However, officials with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas say the surveillance likely violates the constitutional rights of those living in the neighborhood.
"We've had people call us, expressing concern for their children," Fielder told The Associated Press. "They had to sleep on the floor, because of stray bullets."
So far, police have arrested 32 people during the operation that began last week. Fielder said 10 of those arrests came on felony charges, including the arrest of two people carrying both drugs and weapons in a neighborhood that was once a part of West Helena.
Fielder said officers have not arrested anyone for violating the curfew, noting those on foot and vehicle patrols only stop to question those about why they are outside. Those without good answers or acting nervously get additional attention, Fielder said.
Fielder said officers in the field carry military-style M-16 or M-4 rifles, some equipped with laser sights. Other officers carry short-barrel shotguns.
"We're not here to play," the police chief said. "The citizens need to be protected. The criminal element is heavily armed" with pistols and AK-47s.
Fielder said much of the violence came from crack and marijuana dealers in the city, who fire wildly in the neighborhood. He noted how the city of Hartford, Conn., recently began its own curfew after violence.
The City Council is scheduled to discuss the curfew during a meeting scheduled for noon Tuesday.
The ACLU sent a letter to the city, saying Mayor James Valley's order for the curfew violates the Fourth Amendment and that placing adults under house arrest is unconstitutional.
The city, created in 2006 after the rival cities of Helena and West Helena joined, is in one of the nation's poorest regions, trailing even parts of Appalachia in its standard of living. Phillips County lost a third of its population from 1970 to 2000 and, of the 24,107 people who remain, more than a quarter live in poverty.
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