Wilson Pledges Funds to Fight Gangs

In the first gubernatorial visit to Huntington Park in the city’s 90-year history, Gov. Pete Wilson told local leaders Tuesday that he would allocate $2.5 million to help small communities like theirs fight gangs with civil injunctions against gang members.

Similar injunctions, spearheaded by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti and in place in parts of Norwalk, Long Beach and Pasadena, ban identified gang members from participating in certain illegal and legal activities within an identified zone. Injunctions have prohibited people from carrying beepers, riding bicycles, drinking alcohol, loitering and engaging in drug use or sales, among other things.

Wilson said the injunctions are a “call to all decent citizens to say, ‘No more.’ ”

“Together we will fight juvenile gang violence with heart and soul,” Wilson said. “You do deserve help and we intend to see that you get it.”

The proposed fund would expand the district attorney’s Strategy Against Gang Environments program to communities that cannot afford the salary of a special deputy district attorney to draft and argue the civil injunction, at a cost of more than $98,000 a year, Wilson said.

The proposal to extend the program to Huntington Park comes after 11-year-old Erika Izquierdo was killed by stray gunfire last October. A gang member allegedly shot the girl while she was sitting on her front porch with her father, Antonio, who attended Tuesday’s event to thank the governor and district attorney for their help.

Calling the injunctions a form of “community-based prosecution,” Garcetti told the gathered schoolchildren and church leaders that the injunctions have been a “phenomenal success.”

“Injunctions are giving hope to communities that had almost given up,” Garcetti said. “Gangs that were terrorizing neighborhoods and selling drugs are closing down.”

While Wilson and Garcetti work to extend the anti-gang proposal, civil libertarians and others are questioning in court whether the measures are constitutional--and whether the court orders are as successful as Garcetti says.

“We’re very discouraged by this action,” said Ann Bradley of the American Civil Liberties Union. “We’ve given ample evidence that these injunctions do not necessarily solve the problem.”

The ACLU and others have alleged that the injunctions are technically improper because they accuse people of criminal activities in a civil proceeding, meaning that those named have no right to an attorney.

What’s more, critics contend that the injunctions turn the zoned area into a quasi-police state, in which officers can unconstitutionally stop and search anyone they choose under the guise of searching for injunction violators. The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and others have also alleged that the injunctions unfairly target African American and Latino men.

In his Huntington Park speech, Wilson anticipated his critics’ response to his proposal.

“One of the most effective ways to nip gang activity in the bud is by taking away their colors and their pagers, keeping them off the pay phones, not letting them camp out in front of their targets’ homes,” Wilson said. “Not everyone understands this. . . . If anyone should be sued, it’s the ACLU for defying common sense.”

Wilson also reiterated his tough-on-crime themes from last week’s State of the State address, urging support for a box that could be checked off on tax returns allocating money to local law enforcement, and several measures that would provide harsher penalties for juveniles who commit violent crimes.