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Judge refuses to stop D.C. police roadblocks

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D.C. police chief defends checkpoints

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has refused to order police in the District of Columbia to stop using a vehicle checkpoint program in one of the city’s crime-ridden neighborhoods.

The Partnership for Civil Justice sued in June on behalf of four residents who were stopped at checkpoints in Washington’s Trinidad neighborhood. They had asked U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to issue a preliminary injunction to keep police from using the program again.

But Leon refused, saying it was unlikely the plaintiff would win a lawsuit to stop the program permanently.

Police in June stopped cars in the northeast neighborhood. Motorists without proof that they lived in the area had to explain where they were going or they were turned around.