Rough Justice
How four vice officers served as judge and jury on the streets of the MPD's 6th District
Cover Story
How four vice officers served as judge and jury on the streets
of the MPD's 6th District
Illustration By Paul Moch
Nothing ever seems to leave the East Capitol Dwellings housing project willingly. Not the trash, which crowds the community's curbs and spills onto every available grassy corner. Not its low red-brick homes, which take their time falling apart, brick by brick, broken window by broken window. Not its residents, many of whom have lived there for decades. Not the officers of the 6th District Vice Unit, who have made the project their project for a decade. And not the small-time dopers who keep getting arrested, only to return the next morning, the next day, the next night.
Located at the east end of the District, just across from Prince George's County, and split in half by East Capitol Street, the neighborhood offers a portrait of economic stalemate: a landscape given over to dope dealers, police, and anybody unlucky enough to be stuck in their midst. Residents say their lives have become dominated by the bad guys and the vice unit that haunts them. Listen to them long enough, and you'd think the vice officers set their social calender and controlled their daily movements. This is a neighborhood few residents defend.
Except John Makins.... Continued 
Issue of Jan. 7 - 13, 2000
News and Features
- Rough Justice
Cover Story - Oh Say, Why Can't We See?
Feature - One Twelfth: December
The City - Living in the Suburbs is Murder
The City - Waiting Room
The City - Shell Game
The City - Stare Masters
The Mail - Dog Food for Thought
The Mail - Burger King?
The Mail - Plunging Into Icy Water
The Mail - Charity Begins With the Homeless
The Mail - Block Building
The Mail - Mais Oui?
The Mail - Calling Cards
The Mail - Apriority Evidence
The Mail - Hell Yeah
The Mail
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Demimonde - The Year in Preview
Paper Trail - Incumbent City
Loose Lips
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Young & Hungry
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- War in Peace
Film Review - Boxer in Silhouette
Film Review - Broken Blossoms
Film Review
Music
- Unredeemed, Homeless, and in Hiding
Acts Locally - Reborn Bad
Music Review - Call 911
Music Review
Theater
- Martin Grrrrrr
Theater Review - Crapped Out
Theater Review
Arts and Events
- This Old Wreck
Arts - Gone Fishin'
Artifacts - You Spin Me Right Round
Artifacts - I Want You (But Not You)
Artifacts
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