City Officials to Study Anti-Gang Measure

A plan to beef up the use of court injunctions against gang members was referred for study Tuesday to Los Angeles city officials who have 30 days to report their findings.

The city attorney, the chief legislative analyst and the city administrative officer will study the feasibility of hiring new legal staff with the sole assignment of requesting injunctions and prosecuting violators. City Councilman Richard Alarcon made the proposal last week to step up gang control efforts, especially in the San Fernando Valley and the Westside.

The $1.1-million plan calls for adding seven new attorneys in City Atty. James K. Hahn’s anti-gang unit, four of whom would concentrate solely on drafting new injunctions against gang members. A new weapon in the war on gangs, the injunctions prohibit certain activities police say are associated with gang crime, from carrying beepers to congregating in public.

A judge issued an injunction last month against the infamous 18th Street gang in the Pico-Union area, although civil liberties advocates warned that the rights of ordinary residents might be infringed.

Alarcon supports similar anti-gang measures in his northeast Valley district, which includes crime-ridden neighborhoods along Orion Avenue and Blythe Street. An injunction against the gang members operating on Orion Avenue in North Hills would be the first one drafted if Alarcon’s measure passes.