San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera lashed out Tuesday at Public Defender Jeff Adachi for siding with critics who deride civil injunctions against gang members as "the criminalization of people of color."
As lawyers went to court to argue whether to restrict the movements of alleged gang members in the Mission District and Western Addition, Herrera called on the public defender to "publicly repudiate" critics' suggestions that the city attorney's proposed injunctions amount to racial profiling.
Adachi refused to do so, saying the issue should be argued in court and that the city attorney is "right to be concerned about racial profiling."
Herrera told Adachi in a letter that he was "troubled by the inflammatory tenor and deliberate inaccuracy" of an e-mail written by a Mission District activist group, the Community Response Network, promoting a rally against the proposed injunctions.
Activists ended up canceling the rally outside City Hall and headed to court for hearings on whether the injunctions against 75 gang members should be granted.
Adachi's office did not send the e-mail - which called gang injunctions "the criminalization of people of color" - but Herrera said the public defender is responsible because his office sponsored the planned rally.
The city attorney said Adachi is providing a "platform to those who would recklessly inflame racial tensions."
"Apart from poisoning public discourse about the important issue of addressing gang violence in San Francisco, such egregious race-baiting has the effect of delegitimizing an independent judiciary whose authority to issue such civil orders has been repeatedly affirmed," Herrera wrote.
The public defender's office is representing several alleged gang members who are fighting the proposed injunctions. Adachi himself appeared before a judge in one of the cases Tuesday, then emerged to find that Herrera had sent copies of his letter to reporters.
"I think people have a right to express their objections in public. There are rallies in front of City Hall every day," Adachi said. "This isn't any different. Maybe the city attorney wants an injunction against gang injunction rallies."
Adachi said his office has already received reports that police are engaging in racial profiling of young Latinos in the Mission, including members of the Community Response Network. Herrera's office has argued in court filings that such assertions are hyperbolic and self-serving.
Adachi also expressed concern at the scope of the injunctions Herrera is seeking against alleged Norteño gang members in the Mission and alleged members of three gangs in the Western Addition.
"Is it going to give police power to stop anybody who's wearing red?" Adachi asked, referring to the Norteños' gang color. "I have a red tie on today. If my name is on a gang injunction, am I going to be thrown in jail because I have a red tie?"
Herrera's office obtained the first anti-gang injunction in San Francisco last year against about two dozen people identified as members of the Oakdale Mob in a four-block section of the Bayview. The latest proposed injunctions identify 31 alleged Norteños in the Mission and 44 alleged members of the Western Addition gangs Eddy Rock, Chopper City and Knockout Posse.
If approved, the Mission District injunction would prohibit the alleged Norteños from meeting with one another in a 60-block area; the other alleged gang members would face the same restriction in two six-block areas of the Western Addition near subsidized housing along Eddy Street.
Those named would also be barred from wearing gang symbols or clothing, or flashing gang signs in the same areas.
The proposed Mission injunction also includes a curfew from 10 p.m. until sunrise, with exceptions for travel to work, religious services or emergency medical care.
Violators would face criminal penalties of up to six months in jail.
Adachi and other public defenders argued in court that some of the people named in Herrera's actions are not in gangs and are being targeted because they live in public housing or have rapped about gangster life.
Lawyers from the city attorney's office questioned whether alleged gang members were being truthful, saying some of those named had gang tattoos and criminal records.
The issue of whether the injunctions would give police sweeping power to target certain minorities was also raised in both Superior Court hearings.
In the Western Addition case, Deputy City Attorney Jennifer Choi told Judge Peter Busch that police should be given the leeway to interpret any new gang symbols as being covered under the injunctions.
Deputy Public Defender Chris Gauger said he is worried that would give police officers too much latitude. "There's exactly the problem," Busch replied.
The judge expressed concern that the injunction would "give officers the unilateral power" to interpret the actions of alleged gang members.
Robert Amparan, an attorney representing four defendants in the Norteños case before Judge Patrick Mahoney, said the Mission District injunction would amount to "government-sponsored racial profiling." Officers would have sweeping power to harass and arrest Latino men, he said.
Herrera said outside court that "nothing could be further from the truth."
The city attorney's office named individual gang members, rather than the gangs themselves, in an effort to prevent innocent people from being caught up in the injunction, Herrera said.
"We were extremely careful," Herrera said. "That was precisely why we handled it the way that we did, to go the extra mile to make sure we were protecting the civil liberties of people." The judges have 90 days to decide whether to grant the injunctions.
As lawyers went to court to argue whether to restrict the movements of alleged gang members in the Mission District and Western Addition, Herrera called on the public defender to "publicly repudiate" critics' suggestions that the city attorney's proposed injunctions amount to racial profiling.
Adachi refused to do so, saying the issue should be argued in court and that the city attorney is "right to be concerned about racial profiling."
Herrera told Adachi in a letter that he was "troubled by the inflammatory tenor and deliberate inaccuracy" of an e-mail written by a Mission District activist group, the Community Response Network, promoting a rally against the proposed injunctions.
Activists ended up canceling the rally outside City Hall and headed to court for hearings on whether the injunctions against 75 gang members should be granted.
Adachi's office did not send the e-mail - which called gang injunctions "the criminalization of people of color" - but Herrera said the public defender is responsible because his office sponsored the planned rally.
The city attorney said Adachi is providing a "platform to those who would recklessly inflame racial tensions."
"Apart from poisoning public discourse about the important issue of addressing gang violence in San Francisco, such egregious race-baiting has the effect of delegitimizing an independent judiciary whose authority to issue such civil orders has been repeatedly affirmed," Herrera wrote.
The public defender's office is representing several alleged gang members who are fighting the proposed injunctions. Adachi himself appeared before a judge in one of the cases Tuesday, then emerged to find that Herrera had sent copies of his letter to reporters.
"I think people have a right to express their objections in public. There are rallies in front of City Hall every day," Adachi said. "This isn't any different. Maybe the city attorney wants an injunction against gang injunction rallies."
Adachi said his office has already received reports that police are engaging in racial profiling of young Latinos in the Mission, including members of the Community Response Network. Herrera's office has argued in court filings that such assertions are hyperbolic and self-serving.
Adachi also expressed concern at the scope of the injunctions Herrera is seeking against alleged Norteño gang members in the Mission and alleged members of three gangs in the Western Addition.
"Is it going to give police power to stop anybody who's wearing red?" Adachi asked, referring to the Norteños' gang color. "I have a red tie on today. If my name is on a gang injunction, am I going to be thrown in jail because I have a red tie?"
Herrera's office obtained the first anti-gang injunction in San Francisco last year against about two dozen people identified as members of the Oakdale Mob in a four-block section of the Bayview. The latest proposed injunctions identify 31 alleged Norteños in the Mission and 44 alleged members of the Western Addition gangs Eddy Rock, Chopper City and Knockout Posse.
If approved, the Mission District injunction would prohibit the alleged Norteños from meeting with one another in a 60-block area; the other alleged gang members would face the same restriction in two six-block areas of the Western Addition near subsidized housing along Eddy Street.
Those named would also be barred from wearing gang symbols or clothing, or flashing gang signs in the same areas.
The proposed Mission injunction also includes a curfew from 10 p.m. until sunrise, with exceptions for travel to work, religious services or emergency medical care.
Violators would face criminal penalties of up to six months in jail.
Adachi and other public defenders argued in court that some of the people named in Herrera's actions are not in gangs and are being targeted because they live in public housing or have rapped about gangster life.
Lawyers from the city attorney's office questioned whether alleged gang members were being truthful, saying some of those named had gang tattoos and criminal records.
The issue of whether the injunctions would give police sweeping power to target certain minorities was also raised in both Superior Court hearings.
In the Western Addition case, Deputy City Attorney Jennifer Choi told Judge Peter Busch that police should be given the leeway to interpret any new gang symbols as being covered under the injunctions.
Deputy Public Defender Chris Gauger said he is worried that would give police officers too much latitude. "There's exactly the problem," Busch replied.
The judge expressed concern that the injunction would "give officers the unilateral power" to interpret the actions of alleged gang members.
Robert Amparan, an attorney representing four defendants in the Norteños case before Judge Patrick Mahoney, said the Mission District injunction would amount to "government-sponsored racial profiling." Officers would have sweeping power to harass and arrest Latino men, he said.
Herrera said outside court that "nothing could be further from the truth."
The city attorney's office named individual gang members, rather than the gangs themselves, in an effort to prevent innocent people from being caught up in the injunction, Herrera said.
"We were extremely careful," Herrera said. "That was precisely why we handled it the way that we did, to go the extra mile to make sure we were protecting the civil liberties of people." The judges have 90 days to decide whether to grant the injunctions.
