Anti-loitering laws aimed at Gang Mambers

[gringoscott]

Judge OKs Oxnard's 2nd Gang Injunction
By Catherine Saillant, Times Staff Writer
September 20, 2006

Police will begin notifying members of a south Oxnard gang that they can no longer hang out in public, wear certain clothing or drink alcohol under the terms of a second gang injunction approved this week.

A Ventura County Superior Court judge Monday approved Dist. Atty. Gregory Totten's request for a 4.26-square-mile enforcement zone, roughly south of Wooley Road, east of Ventura Road, west of Rose Avenue and north of Hueneme Road.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Karen Wold said the injunction covers about 200 active members of the Southside Chiques, the city's second-largest criminal street gang.

Opposition to the preliminary injunction, which Wold is asking the court to make permanent, was significantly more muted than the outcry that greeted the first injunction, approved in 2004.

In the earlier case, 220 civil rights activists, community members and residents filed papers in court claiming they had been unfairly harassed by Oxnard police. But their request to throw out restrictions placed on the Colonia Chiques gang was unsuccessful.

In the current case, an attorney representing alleged Southside gang member Mario DeLucas asked the court for a hearing to outline why his client should be excluded.

"We're not opposing the gang injunction," said Michael McMahon, a deputy public defender. "Our position is, it is being abused."

Oxnard police have said violent crime has dropped 10% since the the first injunction was authorized. The second enforcement area has received wide public support at community meetings, Wold said.

"People just don't want to tolerate gangs," she said. "They are tired of the shootings, the murders and the graffiti. People are saying enough is enough."

Seeking to crack down on the Colonia Chiques, the county's largest gang, Oxnard police successfully sought an injunction that limited its members' activities. The court order, upheld last year, prohibited gang members from assembling, wearing gang colors or loitering outdoors after 10 p.m. within a designated 6.6-square mile "safety zone" around the Colonia neighborhood.

Since the injunction was imposed, Wold has said, there have been more than 100 gang arrests and prosecutions.

Based on that success, authorities decided to seek an injunction against the Southside Chiques, whose members have been identified as suspects or victims in nine homicides in Oxnard and three in neighboring Port Hueneme.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...nes-california

Do any of your agencies enforce similar laws? I'd love for something like this to pass in San Jose, but that's just wishful thinking... :rolleyes:

[madsnax]

I wish we had some type of anti-loitering/bum laws here in Austin.. I can't sit at a red light without some bum begging me for money or cigarettes. On my way home from WORK.. I get harassed by bums.

I'd figure the city would impose such a law as a safety measure.. It can't be safe for the bums to be standing on the median like that.

[gringoscott]

I'm just sick of all the little gangsters coming to the mall and starting their rivalry/stare down/shooting/stabbing when there's a bunch of little kids around. They show up with their gang related shoelaces/ belts/ handkerchiefs/ shirts/ tats/ hats and look for fights. We know what they're doing, and all we can do is wait until they start something. We used to be able to tell them to get rid of their gang crap, but I was told last month that a new city ordinance says that would be profiling, and profiling is wrong. So we just follow them around until they get pissed and leave. :rolleyes:

[pmfc]

I wish we had some type of anti-loitering/bum laws here in Austin.. I can't sit at a red light without some bum begging me for money or cigarettes. On my way home from WORK.. I get harassed by bums.

I'd figure the city would impose such a law as a safety measure.. It can't be safe for the bums to be standing on the median like that.

I have a friend who used to carry McDonalds job applications in his car. When he was approached by a bum he would hand them a job application :D :D

[LA5150]

We have several of these injunctions here (and a few in my division), and they are great tools for us to use against gangsters.

[sgtbear111]

Most of the local politicians this way hide from the issue of gangs. When they wake up, they hide from the ACLU.

[Creeker]

I wish we had some type of anti-loitering/bum laws here in Austin.. I can't sit at a red light without some bum begging me for money or cigarettes. On my way home from WORK.. I get harassed by bums.

I'd figure the city would impose such a law as a safety measure.. It can't be safe for the bums to be standing on the median like that.

Just so you know, the word "Bum" is a derogatory term, which is used to promote class envy between those who are simply unfortunate enough to have been laid off from their higher paying job and those who are experiencing higher paid levels of employment.

Their temporary lack of employment is hardly ever the result of their own actions or addictions. We must work harder to understand them and not paint all of them with the same brush. To say differently is nothing more than a poor attempt to justify one's own prejudices against those who don't presently hold employment.

Would you go into a room full of unemployed and unkempt people and call them "Bums"?

I wouldn't use the term "Bum" in court, either. Would you? :rolleyes:

[chiefhuntr]

Just so you know, the word "Bum" is a derogatory term, which is used to promote class envy between those who are simply unfortunate enough to have been laid off from their higher paying job and those who are experiencing higher paid levels of employment.

Their temporary lack of employment is hardly ever the result of their own actions or addictions. We must work harder to understand them and not paint all of them with the same brush. To say differently is nothing more than a poor attempt to justify one's own prejudices against those who don't presently hold employment.

Would you go into a room full of unemployed and unkempt people and call them "Bums"?

I wouldn't use the term "Bum" in court, either. Would you? :rolleyes:

Everyone in the room is now looking at me and wondering why I am on the floor..............:D

That was great

[jamez]

I wish we had some type of anti-loitering/bum laws here in Austin.. I can't sit at a red light without some bum begging me for money or cigarettes. On my way home from WORK.. I get harassed by bums.

I'd figure the city would impose such a law as a safety measure.. It can't be safe for the bums to be standing on the median like that.

We have a 'panhandling' law in Fort Worth that I believe applies to Dallas as well. I'm sure every major city, such as Austin, would have something like this in place. Technically, it is illegal for this type of activity. I simply remind them of this, if I know what their intentions are. If it's authentic, instead of giving them money, we'll get what it is they're needing, such as food, gas, etc.