Welcome To Martial Law: Checkpoints Coming This Weekend To Washington D.C.

On the news we see checkpoints in war zones but who would have thought an area in the United States would require ID to enter. Starting this weekend checkpoints will be in place in high-crime areas of Washington D.C.

The new directive has a name of course; "Neighborhood Safety Zones." This initiative will allow for D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier to set up a checkpoint in any area of the city that has had an outbreak of violence. When an area has been designated signs and checkpoints will be erected. The neighborhood will then be notified. To enter the area a car will be stopped and everyone inside of it will have to produce identification and explain what their motives are for entering said area. Those who are on foot will not have to go through the checkpoints. The checkpoints will be manned 24/7 for a maximum of 10 days after they have been approved by Lanier. The checkpoints will be on major roads and operate at random hours while they have been designated.

"We're not going to be predictable," says Lanier.

First up for this policy will be Trinidad in Northeast, D.C. near Florida Avenue. According to Interim D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles this policy is fully constitutional. Last weekend eight people were killed in a spree of violence in the nation's capital. That brings up the death count by homicide to 73 for D.C. Most of the killings happened in the 5th Police District in Northeast.

"Welcome to Baghdad, D.C.," says Art Spitzer with the ACLU. "In this country, you don't need identification papers and to give an explanation for why you want to go from one neighborhood to another."