Oakland Seeks Another Gang Injunction
OAKLAND (BCN/KCBS) -- Oakland city officials announced Wednesday that they are seeking a civil injunction against dozens of members of a street gang they said is terrorizing the community.
Oakland City Attorney John Russo and Police Chief Anthony Batts said a petition was filed Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court seeking an injunction against 42 members of the Norteno street gang.
KCBS' Bob Melrose Reports:
In a news conference at City Hall, Russo called the Nortenos "one of the most destructive, vicious and sociopathic criminal organizations in Oakland, not just for years, but literally for generations."
Police said there are at least 400 Norteno gang members in Oakland, and that members of the gang have been involved in at least 35 shootings in 2010, either as suspects or targets.
The injunction, if ordered by a judge, would restrict the gang members' activities in a swath of central Oakland below Brookdale Avenue, east of 21st Avenue, west of High Street, and north of the Oakland Estuary.
Russo described such an injunction as "a civil court order much like a restraining order."
"It is designed to protect a community from people that have abused that community," he said.
The gang members named in the injunction would be restricted from carrying guns, menacing or assaulting witnesses, recruiting young people, selling drugs, vandalizing the city, associating with each other in public and being on the street between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., with exceptions allowed for work, school, religious activities or emergencies.
The injunction would be the second sought by the city. The first, issued against 15 members of the North Side Oakland gang, was granted on June 3.
Batts said, "Injunctions are a tool that we will use, and they do work."
He cited the recent shooting of a 6-year-old girl in East Oakland as an example of why an injunction is needed.
The girl was shot while she slept in the 1600 block of Seminary Avenue early the morning of Sept. 28. A bullet struck her arm and went through her chest, but she is expected to survive.
Critics of the injunctions, such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, have argued that the orders violate civil rights and give police broad discretion to label people gang members without evidence.
In response to such criticism, Russo said the injunctions name alleged gang members "based on their criminal records and own professed claims of gang membership."
"The burden of proof, as it should be, is on the city to show convincing evidence that every one is a gang member," Russo said.
He said no additional members can be added to the list without a judge's approval.
Russo said the gang injunction issued in June has already resulted in some positive changes in the community.
"It's premature to give quantitative data, but reports from OPD are that the 15 named (in that injunction) are lying low...or are no longer commuting into that neighborhood" for illegal activity, he said.
Russo said Oakland's injunctions differ those in some other cities in that they "name every individual gang member as a defendant, as opposed to just naming the gang."
He said those named have the right to participate in an "opt-out" process to be removed from the list.
After being served with the complaint, people targeted by the injunction can contact the city, and a panel of three people representing the Police Department and the community will ultimately decide whether they can be removed from the list.
The panel "will want to see two years of positive social behavior," he said.
Members will have to show that they're "in school, have a job, caring for an elder, or doing something that means you're a full and positive member of the community, that you've given up this life of basically terrorizing our community," he said.
The names of the 42 alleged gang members targeted by the injunction are expected to be listed on the city attorney's website, http://www.oaklandcityattorney.org/, when the city files more evidence with the court next week.
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