ZERO TOLERANCE'S NEGATIVE SIDE

For the past eight years, Gary Kettler has pleaded for more police patrols
and city services for his neighborhood in Northwest Washington. He has
wanted police to stop the drug dealing that goes on near his home in
LeDroit Park, to say nothing of catching the people who mugged him recently.

Kettler, 47, also hoped that police would apprehend whoever threw a brick
through the window of his truck, although he knew that was wishful
thinking. The least the city could do, he thought, was to haul away the
abandoned automobiles that took up precious parking space on his block.

Last week, police finally showed up with a law enforcement campaign called
"Zero Tolerance." A traffic checkpoint was set up near Kettler's house. And
when Kettler drove through with his wife and 18-month-old baby on Tuesday
night, police fined both adults $50 apiece for not wearing seat belts.

The next night, Kettler's wife, on an errand two blocks from home,
absent-mindedly didn't fasten her seat belt. She was stopped by seven
police officers and fined another $50.

All told, the couple now faces a combined assessment of nine points on
their driver's licenses, enough to raise their insurance premiums by
several hundred dollars a year, plus $150 in fines.

Meanwhile, the drug dealers continue to operate in LeDroit Park and the
abandoned cars remain on their street.

"This 'zero tolerance' is just a gimmick to bring in more revenue for the
District," Kettler complained. "It has nothing to do with stopping crime or
catching criminals."

D.C. police acknowledge that such zero tolerance checkpoints have irritated
some residents. But they argue that by stopping motorists on minor
infractions, they frequently make arrests for more serious offenses.

"Invariably, at each checkpoint, we catch criminals and recover guns and
drugs," said Capt. Barry Malkin, whose 3rd District police station covers
LeDroit Park.

Kettler, though, is no criminal. Nor is his wife. He is a director at a
Washington-based multinational engineering firm. She is an architect with a
nonprofit housing corporation. Together, they are helping to revitalize one
of the District's most historic neighborhoods, as well as contributing
about $20,000 a year to the city's tax base.

It is precisely such people that experts say the District needs to attract.
A stronger middle-class presence is the key to improving public schools,
the experts say, and it is believed that new businesses would also move
into the city because of them.

Couldn't police have used some discretion? A first-time warning, perhaps?
It was, after all, a seat-belt infraction, not interstate transport of
firearms and drugs, which are the real public safety concern of District
residents.

"How are you supposed to discriminate?" Capt. Malkin asked. "How do you
give them a break and nobody else? Zero tolerance means zero tolerance."

Kettler said that he could accept that if it were true.

"My wife saw a young man with a gun beating up an old man, and we had to
walk through a gang of people dealing drugs to report the assault to the 10
police officers who were standing on another corner handing out tickets for
not wearing seat belts," Kettler said. "It may be zero tolerance for minor
offenses, but it's business as usual for the serious stuff."

Malkin said the workings of zero tolerance enforcement are more complicated
than it appears.

"You may see drug dealers on one corner and us on another, but a lot of
them eventually get caught because of the omnipresence of police," he said.

Malkin attributed the District's recently reported 22 percent drop in
crime, in part, to the zero tolerance campaign, although he acknowledged
that many checkpoints simply cause drug dealers to move from one
neighborhood to another.

Kettler said that what bothered him most about the zero tolerance campaign
was a "fascist attitude" that some police officers displayed.

"You find yourself surrounded by all of these police officers who are armed
and geared up to hassle you," he said. "You are presumed guilty as they
search to find anything to justify making the stop."

Frustrated that eight years of asking city officials for better police
protection had resulted only in his being caught not wearing a seat belt,
Kettler admits he lost his temper.

"You've got the wrong people," he recalled shouting at the police. "Why are
you giving us tickets while people are standing all around us dealing drugs?"

According to Kettler, one of the police officers replied, "If you don't
like it, move back to the suburbs where you came from." (Kettler's wife had
moved into the District from Takoma Park five years ago.)

Kettler said yesterday that he and his wife have decided to heed the police
officer's advice. They are putting their house up for sale and moving out.

"If the District needs $150 so badly that it has to treat my family with
contempt, then they can have it," Kettler said. "But we're taking our
$20,000 in annual income taxes to the suburbs."

© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company