Home Searching Program Meets Resistance
by Matt Margolis, March 25th, 2008 at 11:32pm
…and they didn’t see it coming.
Boston police officials, surprised by intense opposition from residents, have significantly scaled back and delayed the start of a program that would allow officers to go into people’s homes and search for guns without a warrant.
The program, dubbed Safe Homes, was supposed to start in December, but has been delayed at least three times because of misgivings in the community. March 1 was the latest missed start date.
One community group has been circulating a petition against the plan. Police officials trying to assuage residents’ fears have been drowned out by criticism at some meetings with residents and elected officials.
Officers may begin knocking on doors this week, officials said yesterday, but instead of heading into four troubled neighborhoods, as they had planned, officers will target only one, Egleston Square in Jamaica Plain, where police said they have received the most support.
Police would ask parents or legal guardians for permission to search homes where juveniles ages 17 and under are believed to be holding illegal guns. Police would only enter homes into which they have been invited and, once inside, would only search the rooms of the juveniles.
The goal, said Elaine Driscoll, spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department, would be getting weapons off the streets, rather than making arrests.
But critics say that the searches are unconstitutional and that police will not guarantee that residents would face no criminal charges if guns or drugs were found.
Commissioner Edward F. Davis has been taken aback by the criticism. Davis promoted Safe Homes as a voluntary program that would help overwhelmed, frightened parents and guardians by removing guns from their homes without fear of prosecution.
Why should this be surprising? Democrats oppose the surveillance of terrorists… was opposition to warrantless searches of teenagers’ rooms really something Menino and the Boston Police Department couldn’t have figured out?
Entry Filed under: Crime
6 Comments
1. Mr. X | March 27th, 2008 at 11:35 am
They should copy Bush’s tactics…just snoop, don’t ask and don’t tell.
2. V | March 27th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Or they could just ask Hillary for copies of the FBI files she has………
3. Mr. X | March 27th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Why won’t they give up their civil rights when they are politely asked? Conservatives have learned to ignore their beloved constitution and defend the blatant imperialism, unparalled and undefensable executive usurpation of power by the Bush admin. Conservatives are wiilling to say say,”Thank You Sir,may I have another?” when the Bushies ride roughshod on their strict constuctionalist viewpoints, why won’t these citizens knuckle under?
4. Mr. X | March 27th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
By the way did everyone see Rachael Cohen’s slam of the Mass GOP in Wednesday’s Herald(3/26/08)? MUST READ! The little boys from Portland Street are acting their age as I pointed out recently… Greens and Libertarians could become the state’s second party if they leave the Essex County crowd in control much longer….
5. Luca Brasi | March 27th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
This folly was certain to fail from the outset; it’s nothing but a feel good program, talked up by our feel good mayor and feel good governor (Yes we can…screw the public). They all talk about change, including Ted K, as long as the change affects other people, not them. By the time this silly idea is put into action, the little hoodlums…oh, sorry, misguided-but-about-to-turn-their-lives-around youth…will have stockpiled all of their firepower in other secret places. I’ll really go out on a limb and suggest that the youths will not reveal anything about their plans against their rivals, unlike the city, who readily divulges every facet of a plan in advance for a quick headline. Anybody ask St. Louis why they brought a similar plan to a crashing halt? MONEY!!!! Oh, by the way, Mr. & Mrs. Taxpayer, get ready for another revamped housing project…er, that’s Revitalized Residential Estates in Roslindale, formerly the Beechland Housing Development; you taxpayers are giving a nice new home to people who originally were supposed to live there for a finite period, then move into conventional homes, like the rest of us. No, instead, they will be moved, on your dime, to another public-financed apartment or hotel until the new place is completed. The last time I paid for an upgrade in my home, I had to move into a friend’s place and help pay my freight. Oh, I am sorry, I had the audacity (sorry Barack..check’s in the mail) to obtain gainful employment. May I suggest some new signage for the socialized housing complex…GUN FREE ZONE.
6. John K | March 29th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Of all the politicians in favor of warrantless searches of people’s homes, how many are absolutely against warrantless searches of people’s e-mails. Are they not both done in the name of security, one local and the other national? Do I smell hypocrisy?