Injunction limits activities of 89 alleged Vista gang members

San Diego Union ^ | July2, 2005 | Debbi Farr Baker

[Ramonan]

– Prosecutors obtained what they said was the largest anti-gang injunction in county history Friday in an attempt to curtail the criminal activities of 89 documented members of the Vista Home Boys street gang. Superior Court Judge Timothy Casserly granted the preliminary injunction, saying there was ample evidence that gang members are causing residents of Vista irreparable harm and that the injunction would not infringe on the gang members' constitutional rights.

The order will prohibit certain activities within three designated safety zones. They are:

Brengle Terrace Park.

Most of the downtown redevelopment area and the Townside area, which includes Vista High School, Raintree Park and Townside Park.

A small, roughly triangular neighborhood south of South Santa Fe Avenue between Pala Vista Drive and Escondido Avenue.

Sheriff's Detective Dave Brannan said those areas were chosen because that is where the most gang activity takes place in the city. Within those designated areas, the gang's members will not be allowed to associate with other known members, drink or use drugs in public, possess weapons of any kind, intimidate citizens, fight, trespass or vandalize. Nor will they be allowed to wear gang clothing or use gang hand signs or gestures.

The California Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of gang injunctions. It found that a community's right to security must be reconciled with an individual's right to freedom and that the interests of the community are more important than the associative rights and freedoms of criminal street gang members.

There are presently seven gang injunctions in effect in San Diego County, according to the District Attorney's Office.

[coloradan]

If their crimes are bad enough to ban them from using gang hand signs (Re: First Amendment freedom of speech) then they are dangerous enough to keep in jail.