Police Begin Serving Court Order to Gang

Los Angeles police have begun serving 450 members of a Blythe Street gang with a sweeping court order barring them from many otherwise legal activities in a crime-ridden neighborhood.

On Saturday, police served four gang members with copies of the court order, the first step in enforcing the unusual order that civil libertarians have denounced as unconstitutional, unfair and overly broad. Among other things, the order restricts gang-style clothing, prohibits gang members from carrying tools that could be used to steal cars and bans them from Blythe Street at night.

The order can only be enforced after gang members are served with copies of the court order, and police began the process Friday, serving two gang members that night.

“It would take us quite a while to serve all 450 members of the gang, but there are only about 35 or 40 active people that we’re trying to serve first,” Sgt. Nick Wade said. “If we can serve all of them within, let’s say, a week, we can tell the court that we have served the gang.”

Wade also stressed that no individual gang member would be subject to the order’s restrictions until served. He also said that any person suspected of violating the court order must be identified by a Van Nuys Division gang expert before being arrested.

So far, all four gang members served with court papers have cooperated, agreeing to be fingerprinted and photographed to show they have been served, said Wade. One boy agreed to take officers home so they could explain the order to his parents.

Once they receive a copy of the order, gang members must begin complying with its provisions within 24 hours or face arrest. Violators are subject to fines or county jail time at the discretion of the judge.

On April 7, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge John H. Major issued the 22-point injunction against the Blythe Street gang in Panorama City, forbidding gang members to engage in many otherwise legal acts, such as standing on rooftops or possessing portable telephones. Police say gang members station themselves on rooftops to look out for drug dealers.

The order is only the second of its kind in the city’s history and far broader than the first, issued in West L.A. in 1987.

The order also establishes an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for juvenile gang members in a 112-square-block area between Van Nuys and Sepulveda boulevards unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian or can prove they are going to or coming from work or school.

Other parts of the order seek to stop the gang from harassing or intimidating residents, trespassing, blocking streets or driveways or harboring anyone who appears to be fleeing police.