Southeast : Judge to Make Ban on Gang Permanent

For anyone else in Norwalk, a baseball bat usually means a ballgame. But for the 22 most active members of the Orange Street Locos, cruising the streets bat in hand could mean six months in jail and a $1,000 fine--even until they’re old enough to form a senior citizens’ league.

Norwalk Superior Court Judge Lois Anderson Smaltz has said she will make permanent a year-old injunction against the street gang, which among other things prohibits them from carrying potential weapons in public. Smaltz hopes to review the final order as early as Tuesday.

This would make legal a tactic that police say has successfully curtailed the gang’s reign of terror against local residents. The gang’s turf is a 20-block area around Orange Street.

In addition to the weapons ban, the injunction also prohibits gang members from harassing residents and trespassing on private property, and imposes curfews of 10 p.m. for minors and midnight for members over 18.

Similar permanent injunctions stand against other gangs, including one in Burbank. The state Supreme Court is considering an injunction against a San Jose gang whose attorney says the order would violate the group’s 1st Amendment freedom of association rights.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union initially opposed the Norwalk injunction, but bowed out after deciding the gang members’ constitutional rights were not at stake.