ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Respecting Rights in Tense Times

Orange County police departments are upset about a court ruling that takes away a weapon in their crackdown on gangs. However, the decision is a sensible one that leaves police with still enough room to operate.

Last week the state 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana ruled that the Orange Police Department had wrongly infringed constitutionally protected civil rights by photographing youths suspected of gang involvement but not arrested for any crime.

One justice rightly observed that public outrage over gang crime is “understandably strong” and that the photographs, compiled in a “gang book,” have been an effective anti-crime tool. However, the justice said, police cannot legally photograph someone merely because they think he looks like a gang member and thus might commit a crime.

The ruling was handed down in a case that arose after Orange police photographed five persons standing outside an apartment complex known as a gang hangout. Three days later, one of the five, a 17-year-old, was arrested after being identified through the photograph and eventually was convicted of murder. Even though the court found the use of the gang-book photograph wrong, it upheld the murder conviction.

Although police are unhappy with the decision, they should take to heart the observation of Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas Woodsmall. He explained that the decision did not entirely remove gang books as a valuable tool because it remains possible to keep the books if police obtain pictures through mug shots and other legal means.

Woodsmall’s counsel is wise; over the years police have learned to work within the framework of other constitutional limits.

Photographing by police has worried minorities especially. Asian Americans in Fountain Valley complained against the practice last year. (In Orange, the convicted murderer was Latino.)

Police in the county are having a tough time battling gangs and need community support. But they must be careful not to overstep constitutional bounds.