Two thumbs up for Baltimore City Councilman Robert Curran. Monday evening Curran, D-District 3, withdrew legislation eerily reminiscent of that favored by despots and dictators around the world. His Public Safety Act would have expanded emergency powers of the mayor and the City Council, giving them the right to limit how many people could hang out on the street; control access to neighborhoods; and force bars, hotels and other establishments to close or stop serving alcohol, among other powers in neighborhoods “in imminent danger of suffering civil disturbance.”

What would have been next? Loudspeakers in certain sections of town playing public service messages? That’s what happens in North Korea.

Obviously Baltimore has a crime problem. Recorded murders are up to 110 this year from 101 at the same time last year. But the practice of giving those in power the right to declare martial law would not be easy to rescind and has a long track record of abuses, not to mention failure.

In a strange twist of irony, a prankster recently distributed flyers throughout Fells Point declaring the city planned to impose a curfew and expand police powers in the heavily touristed area to crack down on crime. But that was a joke.

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Curran would better use his time and taxpayer dollars figuring out how to convince more police to join and stay in the force.

That way the police department would not have to overwork officers, who logged more than a million hours of overtime in 2006.

Wanting to ensure safe streets is a noble goal. No doubt residents in many neighborhoods with lots of bars would appreciate increased government power to send drunken revelers home and close bars that keep them up at night. But The Public Safety Act sacrificed too many civil liberties for too few benefits it might have supplied.