Demagogue

Concerns about vandalism and car theft recently prompted residents of the tony Chevy Chase neighborhood to ask the Washington, D.C., police department to step up evening patrols. Well, under the category of "be careful what you wish for" ....

Chevy Chase residents say they are getting more than they bargained for now that the Metropolitan Police Department is providing steady, overnight patrols in their Northwest neighborhood. They say officers are ticketing their vehicles for everything from parking too close to a driveway to having improperly affixed stickers.

... An official in the police department's 2nd District, which includes Chevy Chase, said officers walk the neighborhood for several hours overnight and must have something to show for their work. When no crimes are being committed and there are no criminals to arrest, he said, ticketing illegally parked cars is productive work.

"They have to show some type of productivity during the night," Capt. Willie Smith said. "We have anywhere from 30 to 40 officers working all night in the Second District, and there's two to four in that [area]. If they come in without any tickets, no arrests, no truck stops ... they could be challenged by their superiors."

If there are no crimes or infractions, apparently a police officer's job is to create them.