Council Bans Gang Members From 2 Parks

Gang violence has led to two murders in or near Cherryville Park this year and five murders in the Philadelphia Park area in three years, prompting the Pomona City Council to vote 6-1 this week to ban gang members from the facilities.

Mayor Donna Smith said the measure, recommended by the district attorney’s office and patterned after a San Fernando ordinance that is being challenged in court, is intended to reclaim the parks for the use of ordinary citizens.

Smith said the city is under no illusion that forcing gangs out of the parks will eliminate violence, but the ordinance gives police another way of dealing with gangs.

“It’s just another tool that can be used,” she said.

Pomona police credit a strict enforcement policy with cutting the gang murder rate. The enforcement includes jailing gang members for probation violations whenever possible, the imposition of tough sentences by courts and efforts by grass-roots organizations.

Detective Dexter Cole said the number of gang-related homicides has dropped to seven this year, contrasted with at least 23 last year.

Police logged more than 360 calls for service at Cherryville Park and 320 at Philadelphia Park in a one-year period.

In one three-month period at Cherryville, Cole said, there were 20 incidents in which shots were fired. One person was shot and killed while driving though the park in March, and another was killed while walking two blocks away from the park in July.

“Law-abiding citizens cannot use the parks for fear of being shot,” Cole said.

Under the ordinance adopted by the council, gang members can be fined $250 for entering the parks.

The American Civil Liberties Union, in a suit filed this week challenging a similar ordinance in San Fernando, has questioned the constitutionality of the ban and charged that evicting gangs from parks just shifts the violence elsewhere.

Pomona Councilman Tomas Ursua, who voted against the ban this week, said that although police have promised to be careful in identifying gang members, he fears that the law could be used to harass young people who are not affiliated with such groups. He said the result could be “heightened tensions and antagonisms.”

Council members Nell Soto and Paula Lantz said they share Ursua’s concerns but voted for the ban after receiving police assurance that, although the gangs that have frequented the two parks are Latino, officers will not target individuals based on their race or national origin.

Police proposed that the ban apply to Philadelphia and Cherryville parks because they are frequented by gangs that have been identified as criminal street gangs under criteria established by the state Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act. The act allows the courts to sentence members of identified gangs to additional time in prison when they are convicted of felonies.

Councilman Willie White said other parks also have gang problems.

“I’ve gotten a lot of complaints about good people not being able to use parks and the gangs taking over,” he said.

Police said the ban could be extended to other parks if the gangs that frequent them are formally identified under the state law as criminal street gangs.