Charlotte City Council committee kills plan for no-go areas for criminals

The Charlotte City Council’s public safety committee Wednesday voted against moving forward with creating “public safety zones,” which would have allowed police to prohibit criminals from entering a certain area.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Kerr Putney said he doesn’t think the safety zones, or exclusion zones, would be a good idea.

“We don’t need to stigmatize a community,” Putney said.

Earlier this year, council member Al Austin discussed creating the safety zones with former CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe. Austin’s district has some high-crime areas, and Austin said he wanted to see whether safety zones could disperse crime.

The committee began discussing the zones this fall.

If the city had moved forward, the police chief would have been able to designate an area of the city as a “safety zone.” People who had been convicted or arrested could have been prohibited from entering the zone for up to a year.

People could have appealed their banishment, on grounds that they were taking care of a family member or had to enter the zone because of their job.

The city had a similar ordinance in 2005 when it created a “prostitution-free zone” designed to help the Camp Greene neighborhood.

But when the city discussed creating the broader safety zones, there was pushback from some critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union.

And the city acknowledged that the zones could be “perceived as arbitrary” and could have raised fears of “selective enforcement.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, council members Austin, Claire Fallon and Greg Phipps voted to stop discussing safety zones. That vote essentially killed the idea.

Council members Kenny Smith and Michael Barnes weren’t there for the vote. Smith, who came later in the meeting, said he would have voted to table the idea as well.

Phipps asked Putney whether other cities had similar zones.

Putney said some cities did have exclusion zones, and said they were successful because they had community support.

Phipps then said it’s possible communities impacted by crime would have felt the same way.

Fallon, who chairs the committee, said the issue had drawn too much attention from the news media and critics.

“It was only a suggestion,” she said. “At no time was there a vote or proposal. It is incumbent upon us to explore all possible solutions to this problem.”

Austin defended his decision to ask the committee to discuss creating safety zones.

“As we know, there has been an uptick in crime,” he said. “And it’s our job to come with solutions. What I need for you to understand is we have communities where senior citizens are afraid to go out of their houses. I need for you to picture yourself in those communities.”

He added: “We have to maintain our constitutional rights, but what are we doing to safeguard people?”

Melanie Bussard attended Wednesday’s meeting to oppose the creation of safety zones.

“We need to find ways to support people in neighborhoods,” she said. “I can’t see excluding anyone.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Charlotte City Council committee kills plan for no-go areas for criminals."