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'Baghdad-style' checkpoints in US capital Tom Leonard Police in Washington DC have set up vehicle checkpoints in the American capital in a controversial measure aimed at tackling a wave of gun violence. In a move that critics have compared to the security clampdown in Baghdad, police are stopping motorists travelling through the main thoroughfare of Trinidad, a neighbourhood near the National Arboretum in the city's northeast section. Drivers' identification are checked and those who didn't have a "legitimate purpose" in the area, such as a church visit or doctor's appointment, are turned away. The checkpoints were set up after eight people were killed in the city last weekend. Most of the killings occurred in the police district that includes Trinidad which has already seen 22 murders this year. But civil liberties groups have criticised the measures and have dispatched a team of lawyers and law students to monitor the situation. "Trinidad should not be treated like Baghdad," said Mark Thompson of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. The group and various other organisations have threatened legal action if residents' constitutional rights are violated. "It seems interesting that police are willing to easily cast aside fundamental freedoms for quick-fix, lazy law enforcement tactics," said Johnny Barnes, executive director of the local American Civil Liberties Union.
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