Residents Hear Quantico ID Card Proposal

By URIAH KISER

QUANTICO, Va. — Mayor Isis Tharpe came to the Marines with a concern. Some residents of her Town of Quantico – the only town in the U.S. located within a military installation – said it was taking too long to get through base security gates to get to their homes.

The solution proposed the Base: Issue a town resident ID card to present at security checkpoints. The problem: The card would work no differently than the current procedure of presenting a driver’s license or other government-issued ID card, and Base officials have no way of making the proposed cards mandatory for residents.

Officials said the cards would improve security on the base and the town of about 500 residents, as everyone who applies for a card would be screened through a national crime database and a terrorist watch list.

“I think we know that 9/11 was a watershed point for many things across the United States…over the last 10 years, a lot of the installations across the United States have been asked to increase their security,” said Quantico Marine Base spokesman John Rosewarne.

To get to the town or onto the base, everyone must present ID at security checkpoints, including the main gate at Fuller Road and U.S. 1. Those who ride OmniLink buses to and from the town are also screened when military guards board buses and check IDs.

Town residents are currently issued a sticker for their car denoting they live in Quantico, but must also present ID when passing through the gates. The issuance of any new ID card would not replace the sticker, said Tharpe.

The new cards would be issued to those 16 and older, to those who passed a criminal background check, as well as legal immigrants. The base would not issue them to anyone with outstanding arrest warrants, anyone who has had their driver’s license revoked, those who had been previously barred from the base, visiting relatives of town residents, or commercial vendors moving in and out of the town.

Some residents said Quantico is the safest town in the U.S. because it’s surrounded by constant security, and noted they don’t mind applying for a new ID card.

Others pointed out a lax in Quantico’s security at a Virginia Railway Express station, where train passengers can come and go without presenting ID.

“Who’s monitoring the people who get off the train? This is our home, this is our town and we should not feel like we are prisoners here,” said Patricia Thornton.

Tharpe said she will wait until a formal written presentation about the proposed ID cards is provided by base officials before putting it up for a vote by the Town Council later this year.