Supervisors Consider Banning Gangs From Parks : Laws: The board asks for a list of trouble spots. The ACLU has filed suit to fight a similar ordinance in the city of San Fernando.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday stepped into the legal battle over banning gang members from public parks, asking parks officials and the Sheriff’s Department to identify gang-plagued county parks where such a ban should be imposed.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich asked that a list of parks “overcome with gang activity” be provided to the board in a month for possible application of a gang ban, like the ordinance adopted by the city of San Fernando in September.

That ordinance, thought to be the first of its kind in the nation, is being challenged in a Superior Court lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California on the grounds that even gang members have First Amendment rights to assemble.

But the approach has been gaining widespread support from frustrated elected officials and their frightened constituents. In December, the city of Pomona banned gang members from two of its parks, and officials in several other cities, including Los Angeles, are discussing similar approaches.

At Antonovich’s urging, supervisors voted unanimously to look into the need for such a program at county parks and to join San Fernando in fighting the ACLU lawsuit by offering that city legal help from the county counsel’s office.

ACLU Executive Director Ramona Ripston said she hoped that the county would wait for resolution of the lawsuit before extending the ban to any other parks.

“We understand the problem. I want to be safe too. But we don’t have to sacrifice the Constitution in order to have safety,” Ripston said.

Two county supervisors and several members of the public expressed concerns at Tuesday’s meeting about the legal grounds for a gang ban. But many of them also applauded its success so far in San Fernando, where Las Palmas Park--used almost exclusively by gangs last year--now attracts families again.

“I support San Fernando’s remedy and . . . it may work in other areas when these problems arise,” Supervisor Gloria Molina said. “But I’m concerned about implementation, about if anybody who looks like a gang member is going to be harassed. There’s a lot of people who believe that every minority belongs to a gang.”

The San Fernando City Council approved the ban after a mother and her three children were wounded in the cross-fire of a gang turf war in the park. Under the ordinance, members of groups identified by local law enforcement officers--using guidelines in state law--as criminal street gangs are issued warnings to stay away from the park.

A first violation of the law brings a warning and the second offense carries a $250 fine.

Supervisor Ed Edelman said he fears forcing gangs out of parks merely pushes them into the surrounding neighborhoods, where they continue to pose a threat. A report produced by the ACLU indicated that two fatal gang shootings in October occurred within 100 yards of Las Palmas Park.

Only a few of the county’s more than 100 parks are likely to meet the gang ban criteria, said Rodney E. Cooper, county director of parks and recreation. In general, he said, gang problems are already being controlled by county parks police and by a community safety program in the parks.

“When a problem arises, I can put people out there to take care of it,” Cooper said.

Both the San Fernando and Pomona ordinances were crafted by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which offered its services to other governmental bodies through a workshop on the topic.

Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who spoke at length during Tuesday’s county board meeting, said he believes that the ordinances will withstand legal challenges as long as they are applied only in parks with a clear history of serious gang problems.

Reiner also said he finds it ironic that the ACLU’s case rests on the constitutional right of “peaceable assembly,” when “what they are advocating is the right of gangs to go into a park and shoot at each other . . . and at innocent people.”