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Injunction targets West Sac street gang
By Steve Gibson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, February 10, 2005
Get weekday updates of Sacramento Bee headlines and breaking news. Sign up here.
Fed up with three generations of crime by the Broderick Boys in West Sacramento, authorities in Yolo County went to court to launch a rigorous crackdown on the 350-member gang.
Taking a page from anti-gang tactics used in San Jose, Los Angeles and Fresno, the West Sacramento Police Department and the Yolo County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that they had obtained a permanent injunction to shut down the gang.
Agreeing that the Broderick Boys gang is a public nuisance, Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Warriner issued a "gang injunction" allowing police to prevent gang members from "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or appearing, anywhere in public view or any place accessible to the public."
The court order, issued last week, imposes a curfew on gang members from 10 p.m. until sunrise. It prohibits them from intimidating witnesses, possessing guns or other weapons, spraying graffiti or owning spray-paint cans, and trespassing. It also bans them from drinking in public or being around anyone with open containers of alcoholic beverages.
"We're under no illusions this is the panacea," West Sacramento Police Chief Dan Drummond said at a news conference Wednesday. "But it provides us with an early intervention tool, an opportunity, when we see these individuals congregating, to intervene before serious violence occurs."
The court order designates a 3-square-mile area of West Sacramento as a "safety zone" where the injunction is in effect, and it includes the historic neighborhoods of Bryte and Broderick, the gang's home turf.
"Most of these people have a criminal history," the chief said, "for everything from murder to assault to robbery to drug dealing.
"Since the 1980s, they've committed hundreds of crimes in the safety zone. These are supported by police reports, arrests and convictions."
Drummond said he expects no outcry from civil rights advocates "because we're being very careful about labeling people.
"We're not going to put them in a database until we're sure they meet the (state) Department of Justice gang validation criteria. It's all based on prior criminal conduct."
Some residents, however, expressed concerns that Mexican Americans would be unfairly targeted. Val Ganz, 50, of Bryte said he and a friend "are afraid to walk down the street. The cops - they're going in and knocking in doors. If you are Hispanic, you are a gang member. There are no gangs here, never have been, never will be."
Another resident, Trino Savala, 44, said he was one of the original Broderick Boys who ended up in prison and turned his life around.
"The cops are making too big a stink," said Savala, who now is a motivational speaker. "There's a few bad apples in Broderick who are corrupting our youth. The cops know who they are. They ought to go straight to the source and get 'em."
Each of the 350 people identified as members of the Broderick Boys will be served copies of the injunction.
Any violation of the court order would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
Yolo County prosecutor Jeff Rei sig said the Broderick Boys, whose members range from middle school students to state prison inmates, is Yolo County's largest and most violent street gang. It has been linked to homicides, shootings, stabbings, narcotics violations, property crimes and vandalism.
Reisig said the injunction is patterned after others in the state that have survived court challenges.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1997 rejected a challenge to an injunction in San Jose that banned gang members from publicly gathering in a neighborhood or annoying its residents.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that the high court turned down an appeal without comment that the local injunction violated the constitutional right to free association. Gang members had appealed a California Supreme Court decision upholding that injunction.
Reisig said gang injunctions have met with "tremendous success," including an 80 percent reduction in gang crimes in some neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Drummond said teams of officers from several agencies, including the West Sacramento, Davis and Woodland police departments, began serving injunctions on Broderick Boys members at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Although members reside throughout the Sacramento region, he said many congregate in Bryte and Broderick.
Drummond said serving the injunctions would likely take "weeks or months."
In his remarks, Drummond compared the Broderick Boys injunction to "a lifetime achievement award" at Hollywood's Oscar ceremony.
"It's given for a body of work over a period of time."
Drummond said he didn't believe "West Sacramento has any more severe a gang problem than Sacramento. We don't have the drive-by shootings, the home invasions that are so common over there."
"So it's a matter of perspective," he said. "I believe West Sacramento is a safe place to live, to do business and to raise a family."
FOR MORE INFO CLICK HERE
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/12291763p-13155568c.html
x - close Recent Stories By Steve Gibson
Injunction targets West Sac street gang
By Steve Gibson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, February 10, 2005
Get weekday updates of Sacramento Bee headlines and breaking news. Sign up here.
Fed up with three generations of crime by the Broderick Boys in West Sacramento, authorities in Yolo County went to court to launch a rigorous crackdown on the 350-member gang.
Taking a page from anti-gang tactics used in San Jose, Los Angeles and Fresno, the West Sacramento Police Department and the Yolo County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that they had obtained a permanent injunction to shut down the gang.
Agreeing that the Broderick Boys gang is a public nuisance, Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Warriner issued a "gang injunction" allowing police to prevent gang members from "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or appearing, anywhere in public view or any place accessible to the public."
The court order, issued last week, imposes a curfew on gang members from 10 p.m. until sunrise. It prohibits them from intimidating witnesses, possessing guns or other weapons, spraying graffiti or owning spray-paint cans, and trespassing. It also bans them from drinking in public or being around anyone with open containers of alcoholic beverages.
"We're under no illusions this is the panacea," West Sacramento Police Chief Dan Drummond said at a news conference Wednesday. "But it provides us with an early intervention tool, an opportunity, when we see these individuals congregating, to intervene before serious violence occurs."
The court order designates a 3-square-mile area of West Sacramento as a "safety zone" where the injunction is in effect, and it includes the historic neighborhoods of Bryte and Broderick, the gang's home turf.
"Most of these people have a criminal history," the chief said, "for everything from murder to assault to robbery to drug dealing.
"Since the 1980s, they've committed hundreds of crimes in the safety zone. These are supported by police reports, arrests and convictions."
Drummond said he expects no outcry from civil rights advocates "because we're being very careful about labeling people.
"We're not going to put them in a database until we're sure they meet the (state) Department of Justice gang validation criteria. It's all based on prior criminal conduct."
Some residents, however, expressed concerns that Mexican Americans would be unfairly targeted. Val Ganz, 50, of Bryte said he and a friend "are afraid to walk down the street. The cops - they're going in and knocking in doors. If you are Hispanic, you are a gang member. There are no gangs here, never have been, never will be."
Another resident, Trino Savala, 44, said he was one of the original Broderick Boys who ended up in prison and turned his life around.
"The cops are making too big a stink," said Savala, who now is a motivational speaker. "There's a few bad apples in Broderick who are corrupting our youth. The cops know who they are. They ought to go straight to the source and get 'em."
Each of the 350 people identified as members of the Broderick Boys will be served copies of the injunction.
Any violation of the court order would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
Yolo County prosecutor Jeff Rei sig said the Broderick Boys, whose members range from middle school students to state prison inmates, is Yolo County's largest and most violent street gang. It has been linked to homicides, shootings, stabbings, narcotics violations, property crimes and vandalism.
Reisig said the injunction is patterned after others in the state that have survived court challenges.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1997 rejected a challenge to an injunction in San Jose that banned gang members from publicly gathering in a neighborhood or annoying its residents.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that the high court turned down an appeal without comment that the local injunction violated the constitutional right to free association. Gang members had appealed a California Supreme Court decision upholding that injunction.
Reisig said gang injunctions have met with "tremendous success," including an 80 percent reduction in gang crimes in some neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Drummond said teams of officers from several agencies, including the West Sacramento, Davis and Woodland police departments, began serving injunctions on Broderick Boys members at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Although members reside throughout the Sacramento region, he said many congregate in Bryte and Broderick.
Drummond said serving the injunctions would likely take "weeks or months."
In his remarks, Drummond compared the Broderick Boys injunction to "a lifetime achievement award" at Hollywood's Oscar ceremony.
"It's given for a body of work over a period of time."
Drummond said he didn't believe "West Sacramento has any more severe a gang problem than Sacramento. We don't have the drive-by shootings, the home invasions that are so common over there."
"So it's a matter of perspective," he said. "I believe West Sacramento is a safe place to live, to do business and to raise a family."
FOR MORE INFO CLICK HERE
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/12291763p-13155568c.html
