By Andrew M. Schnitzel. 114 Penn St. L. Rev. 667.
Violent crime fueled by drug profits is not a new problem for our nation’s inner cities. Police struggle to adapt their tactics to changing street conditions while still safeguarding the constitutional rights of citizens they have sworn to protect. The summer of 2008 marked a tipping point for the Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) of Washington, D.C. Drive-by shootings ravaged the neighborhood of Trinidad, and the MPD responded with an innovative program designed to curb the violence. The following hypothetical illustrates the basic facts of the program along with a collateral restriction of civil liberties that generated intense controversy . . . [keep reading]