'D.A. joins West Sac in new anti-gang effort'
Copyright News-Ledger Aug. 1, 2007
By Steve Marschke
News-Ledger Editor
West Sacramento is taking another stab at an anti-gang injunction.
More than 15 alleged gang members in the city have already been served with notice of a court hearing this Thursday morning in Yolo Superior Court. What happens next “will be totally up to the court,” said Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig.
Last year’s anti-gang injunction, instituted in cooperation with the city’s police force, generally prohibited gang members from associating with each other or staying out during a night-time curfew. Those caught violating the rules could be arrested. The injunction drew controversy from some – particularly in the city’s Hispanic community – who thought they were being unfairly targeted. The injunction was struck down in April.
“Certainly the first injunction was successful in reducing crime, and although it survived the lower courts, the appeals court had issues with two technicalities,” Reisig said. “The city believed in it, and that’s why they asked me to fix it.”
In April, a state appeals court questioned the way local officials curtailed the activities of gang members by suing them as an “unincorporated association,” and the way that several hundred alleged gang members were deemed to have been “served” through legal service of just one person.
The new injunction is being handled differently.
“The West Sacramento Police Department has identified over 20 individuals to be served,” Reisig said. “They’re actually named in the lawsuit. Last time, it was just a lawsuit against the gang as an entity.”
Thursday, Reisig’s office will present an amended civil complaint to the court.
“We’ll be asking the court to set a hearing for a preliminary injunction.”
Reisig added that he expects a “long” legal process that he hopes will result in a new injunction.
“San Francisco just started two injunctions a couple of weeks ago,” he commented. “I think it took them around six months.”
Critics of the first West Sacramento injunction argued that individuals deemed to be “gang members” were sometimes misidentified, and had their legal rights curtailed with little chance to contest it.
The first injunction declared much of West Sacramento a “safe zone” with new laws in effect for gang members. It specifically targeted members of the “Broderick Boys” gang, which it said was responsible for a great deal of local crime.
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