By Frank Castro
Frank Castro is a board member of Make Oakland Better Now!
On Tuesday evening, May 17th, at or soon after 6:30 p.m., the Oakland City Council will consider possible defunding of Oakland’s gang injunctions. Make Oakland Better Now! supports their continued funding and will urge Council to continue that funding..
On June 2, 2010, Superior Court Judge Freedman granted the City’s request for a gang injunction in North Oakland. The injunction targeted 15 individuals with long histories of major criminal activity including armed robberies, carjackings and drug sales. The court only granted the injunction after a full hearing where each individual was afforded his due process rights. This same process is now being utilized in the Fruitvale area, as the City Attorney’s office seeks an injunction against 40 specific members of the Norteños gang.
MOBN! wholeheartedly supports the members of the City Council who stand in favor of continuing the funding for gang injunctions. We believe that the City Council’s decision should be guided by careful thought and deliberation, not by fear and vitriol. These injunctions will not result in racial profiling and they will not violate any one’s rights. Instead, the injunctions have been narrowly tailored and only apply to specified individuals.
Gang injunctions are only one tool that should be made available to our police department (and residents) to suppress crime in Oakland. Every effort should be made to allow the gang injunctions time to succeed.
Please join us on Tuesday as we urge City Council to support the continued funding of gang injunctions.
What’s a gang injunction?
isn’t exactly tfuhtrul, or at the very least incompetent.Finally, I’d also argue that Ryan Giggs has got about 3 billion times more issues with his privacy than the average poor person on the street.And that the poor people who can’t afford this legal service are actually completely loaded compared to many people in the world, so should we take away their legal rights too because they are actually quite rich themselves?
Hi Joan, and thanks for checking in. You can read more about the gang injunction, and get an answer to your question, here: http://tiny.cc/63saa
Hi Joan,
The gang injunction is tool available to resident and applied by law enforcement to suppress gang activity in targeted areas. The Dept of Justice recommends a three-pronged approach to eliminating gang violence – intervention, prevention and suppression. In Oakland, we spend $20MM a year on intervention and prevention but nothing on suppression.
Intervention and prevention activities help those either in gangs or at risk of joining gangs. But as long as the gang is still a viable entity, the gang will be a lure for new recruits and members can continue to recruit. The suppression efforts by the police work because they reduce the sphere of influence for a limited number of dangerous adult gang members. The injunction enjoins them from congregating in public spaces and recruiting young adults into the gang.
From a taxpayer standpoint, it allows one to get the most bang from your buck. Measure Y money reaches those in the gang but as long as the gang lives there will always be a chance that someone will be recruited.
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