Board Gives Initial OK to Anti-Gang Ordinance

Barely one month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Chicago anti-loitering law aimed at disrupting gang activity, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to an ordinance outlawing certain types of loitering by alleged gang members.

Although the supervisors--who passed the measure with no discussion Tuesday--asked county staff to draft a law that would comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling, civil libertarians swiftly called the new ordinance “blatantly unconstitutional.”

“The likelihood that this would be struck down as unconstitutionally vague is very high,” said Elizabeth Schroeder, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which urged supervisors in a letter to reconsider their vote when the law comes up for final approval next week.

A majority of Supreme Court justices ruled that Chicago’s law was too vague in allowing police to arrest gang members for exercising their constitutional rights to assemble and that it allowed authorities to arrest innocent people unaffiliated with gangs.

Schroeder said the Los Angeles County law has similar problems, citing a provision in the statute that makes it illegal to loiter in a public place “to intimidate” others from entering it.

“What does it mean to intentionally intimidate anyone?” Schroeder asked. “Does it mean a dirty look? If I am not a gang member and I happen to be standing next to a gang member who glares at someone, can I be arrested?”

Ray Fortner, senior assistant county counsel, said he believed that the law would withstand challenge, stressing that it was painstakingly drafted with an eye to the recent Supreme Court decision and other case law.

“That’s a difference of lawyers’ opinions,” he said of the ACLU’s objections. “I suppose it will ultimately be up to the courts to resolve.”

Acknowledging that any use of the law would spark a legal challenge, Los Angeles County Dist.

Atty. Gil Garcetti said his office would look carefully at the ordinance before applying it.

“We’re not sure it’ll do anything for us,” Garcetti said. “If it is in fact another weapon we can use against gangs, we’ll aggressively use it, but we want to be sure it can meet constitutional muster.”

The county has pioneered the use of anti-gang injunctions--court rulings that forbid named gang members from engaging in otherwise legal actions, such as using pagers or gathering in public. Law enforcement officials call the injunctions highly effective. The practice has been upheld on appeals and more than 20 injunctions are in effect across the county.

But the anti-loitering ordinance would have far broader application.

The law, which applies to unincorporated parts of the county, makes it a misdemeanor for gang members to loiter with the intent to “publicize a street gang’s dominance” over public areas as well as intimidating nonmembers from entering. It criminalizes loitering “with the intent to conceal ongoing commerce in illegal drugs or other unlawful activity.”

Finally, the law makes gang members’ parents or guardians guilty of misdemeanors for allowing their children to violate the anti-loitering law.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich had called for the law immediately after the Supreme Court decision in June, pushing through a motion requiring county lawyers to draft an ordinance that would meet the court’s test as laid out in the ruling in City of Chicago vs. Morales.

“It’s vital that the county of Los Angeles have an effective anti-gang policy,” Antonovich said in an interview Tuesday. “The ordinance parallels the concerns raised by the Supreme Court to ensure its constitutionality and provides the tools to ensure public safety.”

Other supervisors said they believed that the law will pass constitutional tests and is critical to Los Angeles County’s perpetual fight against street gangs.

“It’s very important to us to prevent violence before it occurs,” said Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

Supervisor Gloria Molina said that fighting against gangs’ domination of public space is vitally important to her constituents.

“Public space is so limited, particularly when it comes to parks,” Molina said, “that when they’re controlled by gangs, it really limits access to children and families.”