WESTMINSTER : Injunction Bars Gang Activity in City

A temporary restraining order obtained by the city bars 59 suspected members of a street gang from carrying weapons, painting graffiti, harassing residents or simply congregating, officials said Friday.

The order, the first of its kind in Orange County, prohibits those named in a lawsuit by the city from gathering within the half-mile area bound by Golden West and Hoover streets, Westminster Boulevard and Trask Avenue, and imposes an 8 p.m. curfew on them.

Violation of the order could mean jail time and fines.

“I feel this is going to be another effective tool to enable us to prevent gang violence,” Police Chief James Cook said. “Not only will it protect the neighborhood and the citizens, it will protect gang members from rival gangs.”

A hearing on July 21 will determine whether the temporary restraining order, which was approved Thursday, should be made permanent. Copies of the restraining order must be served to the suspected gang members before the hearing.

“This is a brand new tool,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. John Anderson, a county prosecutor who works with the city’s gang unit. “Gangsters operate as a group. If you can somehow break up that group, you can reduce criminal activity of the gang and you can reduce the threat of violence to the citizens in the gang turf.”

Civil libertarians, who have opposed similar nuisance abatement orders in Los Angeles, Burbank and San Jose, say, however, that such orders violate the civil rights of gang members.

“It’s an attempt to impose guilt by association,” said Mark Silverstein, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “The most egregious violation is the ban on standing, sitting, walking or gathering in public view of anyone else. It could permit members of the same family from going out together.”

He also said the restraining order circumvents the legal system.

“It’s making an end run around what has been a longstanding tradition of criminal law, which finds someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt after they commit a crime,” Silverstein said.

But Anderson said citizens have the right to a “comfortable life and enjoyment of property,” and that those targeted, who are documented troublemakers, infringe on that right.

“This injunction is very, very limited in scope,” he said. “We do not tell them how to dress, or whether they can wear beepers. What this does is say they can’t be in that area in a group. It protects them as well as the residents.”

Anderson said he also hopes to get “fringe” members out of gangs and into positive and productive activities.