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Home > All News > 2008 News
Rising gang curbs renew L.A. debateArticle Last Updated: 09/22/2008 11:15:54 PM PDT A judge is expected to approve City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's request for a 13 1/2 -square-mile injunction against six South L.A. gangs, which has renewed debate over a tool police call essential, but one that civil-rights attorneys and gang experts say goes too far. "It's an integral part of the city's anti-gang strategy," said Bruce Riordan, a director of anti-gang operations in the City Attorney's Office. "It's not going to be the prosecutors who blink. It has to be the gang members." Even before the most recent injunction in South L.A. was proposed, about 15 percent of the city was covered by an injunction, far outpacing any other city in the country. In fact, other cities look to L.A. for guidance on the issue since it was the first nationwide to experiment with injunctions. But in law enforcement's drive to crack down, nongang members and associates often are lumped together with hard-core members simply because they live in the same area and are friends or relatives, injunction opponents say. Since January 2007, 750 people have been charged with violating the injunction, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum of 180 days in county jail and a $1,000 fine. Jeffrey S. Cohen, an attorney who has represented dozens of clients on injunction cases, calls the stream of prosecutions a waste of taxpayer money. "I can recognize gangs are a real problem in Los Angeles, but the cases that I am getting are misdemeanors where the person's crime is standing next to another person on the injunction," he said. "The clients I am representing are not hard-core gang members; they are getting arrested for standing outside on the street corner. That is not what we should be spending our law enforcement resources on." Police tout the success of injunctions, saying they have helped drop crime in some of L.A.'s most troubled neighborhoods. Five injunctions sought This year alone, Delgadillo's office has sought five injunctions - including one in Sylmar against the San Fernando Valley's oldest and largest gang, the San Fers - to prevent hundreds of gang members from walking in their neighborhoods past curfew, hanging out with each other or carrying spray-paint cans. Though the City's Attorney Office won't provide details, officials say more injunctions are in the pipeline as crime falls across the city. This summer, L.A. - home to 39,000 gang members and 400 gangs - registered its fewest homicides since 1967, and gang crime dropped 15 percent during the first half of the year. Prosecutors say they are targeting the most organized and threatening gangs. So far, 57 of them, including five in the Valley, have been placed under injunction, overseeing about 11,000 gang members. The injunctions cover 69 square miles, but that will grow to about 80 if Delgadillo's latest request is granted. That number alarms some advocates. "In the short-term basis they clean up the streets immediately, but the goal in dealing with violence is long term. They offer no long-term solutions," said Alex Alonso, the founder of streetgangs.com and an expert on injunctions. "If the injunctions are so successful, why are we naming (the same gangs) in the top 10 gang list?" he said, referring to a roster put together by the LAPD and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office last year targeting the city's most dangerous gangs. Several on that list, including the Rolling 60s and Grape Street Crips, have been under injunction for years. The idea of injunctions first emerged in the early 1980s under then-City Attorney Ira Reiner, who tried to prosecute members of three gangs for tagging. The injunctions eventually developed to restrict gang members' movement and communication, and in 1993, then-City Attorney James Hahn got the city's first permanent injunction against Panorama City's Blythe Street gang. Experts believe only a fraction of gang members are hard-core criminals committing violent felonies. Most are hangers-on who commit petty crimes or affiliate themselves with gang members for protection or status. But police counter that placing people under injunctions helps them curb gang growth and gives them the right to stop and question gang members. The city attorney, working with the LAPD, individually names the gangs' most active members, but officers can also add names if they determine someone is a gang member. Among the criteria police use to determine membership is the way someone is dressed, if they have a gang tattoo, if they admit to being a member or if they hang out with members or commit crimes affiliated with the gang. A combination of any two of those factors is enough to place someone in the category of gang member. "It has enabled us to focus enforcement. We have turned around an increase in crime to a decrease in crime," said Capt. Jorge Villegas, who oversees the LAPD's Mission Division, where three of the Valley's five injunctions are located. Lowering gang crime The most recent injunction against the San Fers helped lower gang crime 9 percent this summer in that area, police said. Before the summer months, gang crime was on the rise - up about 6 percent from January 2008 to May over the same period last year. "It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is huge," he said. His officers target "shot-callers," those who recently joined gangs and those "flirting with the idea" of joining by committing crimes and hanging out with members. "It's not targeting one type of person in the gang," Villegas said. But civil-rights attorneys say police have crossed a line, scooping up anyone who is affiliating with gang members and those who aren't full-fledged members. News Topics | Surenos | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People | Gallery | Blog | |