Gang Injunctions

Crime rises in area covered by North Oakland injunction

Puck Lo

Opponents of Oakland's gang injunction strategy outside Alameda County Superior Court in October 2010

Oakland’s first gang injunction against 15 alleged members of the North Side Oakland set may have withstood an appeals challenge last week, but it will face renewed scrutiny at the City Council’s Public Safety Committee tomorrow evening. At question will be a new report prepared by Oakland Police regarding the effects of the North Oakland injunction almost a year and a half after it was approved by Alameda County Superior Judge Robert Freedman.

Among the reports findings are the following:

Part 1 crimes (murders, shootings, aggravated assaults and robberies) in the “safety zone” covered by the NSO injunction increased following the injunction’s approval in mid-2010 to October 6, 2011. There was one more murder, two more attempted murders, nine more shootings, and 26 more robberies after the injunction’s passage than beforehand.
During the same period after mid-2010, arrests in the safety zone fell by 64 percent, from 315 from April 2009 to June 2010 to 112 arrests from June 2010 to October 2011In the report, OPD says the loss of 80 officers in mid-2010 and ongoing staffing issues are most plausible explanation for this drop.
After the injunction, crime in the NSO injunction area rose at a rate exceeding the citywide average.
Eight of the 15 enjoined NSO members were arrested for crimes following the injunction. Of those, only one was arrested inside the injunction zone. This corroborates with existing research about the “displacement effect” gang injunctions have on crime, pushing offenders to other areas. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Police, Gang Injunctions, North Side Oakland, Oakland, Oakland Police Department

October 5, 2011 | 12:54 PM | By Ali Winston

Oakland Council sends curfews, gang injunctions back to committee

Ali Winston

Fruitvale residents turn out at Oakland City Hall in support of a youth curfew, more gang injunctions and anti-loitering measures on October 4th, 2011

In front of yet another impassioned capacity crowd at Oakland City Hall, Mayor Jean Quan broke a 4-4 deadlock in the City Council to send proposals for expanded gang injunctions, a youth curfew, and an anti-loitering ordinance back to committee for further research and analysis. The decision, which came around 11:30 PM, illustrated deep divisions on the council and among the community about how to confront Oakland’s entrenched crime problem, as well as Mayor Quan’s conviction that her prevention and intervention-based approach to violence will yield results.

Quan cast the tie-breaking vote to side with Desley Brooks, Nancy Nadel, Jane Brunner and Rebecca Kaplan in sending the anti-crime package back to the Public Safety committee for further review. Larry Reid, Ignacio De La Fuente, Patricia Kernighan and Libby Schaaf were in favor of voting on the proposals on the spot.

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FILED UNDER: Police, anti-loitering, Gang Injunctions, Oakland, Oakland City Council, Oakland Police Department, youth curfews

October 3, 2011 | 6:01 PM | By Ali Winston

Proposed Oakland gang injunctions may complicate anti-gang efforts

Daniel Ramirez

Oakland city leaders will have to make hard choices about their approach to conflicting anti-gang programs

According to city officials, Oakland faces a “staggering gang violence problem,” with an estimated 2,000 active gang members from 65 gangs operating throughout the city, some with ties to statewide prison gangs like Nuestra Familia.

To tackle this dilemma, Oakland sought assistance from the California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention grant fund, which is run by the governor’s Office of Gang and Youth Violence Prevention. Created in 2007 by the state legislature, $27.6 million in Cal-GRIP funds had been awarded to 38 cities and 25 community-based organizations across the state as of November 2010.

Oakland was awarded a two-year Cal-GRIP grant in 2009 for a program tailored around the carrot and stick model of Operation Ceasefire, a nationwide violence prevention program pioneered in Boston and Chicago. The centerpiece of Operation Ceasefire is a program known as a “call-in”, which targets alleged gang members on probation or parole with a “scared straight” approach that both outlines the treatment they will receive from law enforcement if they continue to commit crimes while offering employment and education services to get them out of the street life. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Politics, Call-ins, Gang Injunctions, Oakland, Operation Ceasefire

September 27, 2011 | 8:33 PM | By Ali Winston

Oakland Council to take up controversial public safety issues Tuesday

Puck Lo

Opponents of Oakland's gang injunction strategy outside Alameda County Superior Court in October 2010

A pile of anti-crime measures are on the October 4 agenda for the Oakland City Council, including a proposal to pursue gang injunctions in East and West Oakland, day and night-time citywide curfew curfews for youth under 18, and an anti-loitering ordinance targeting open-air drug markets.

The three separate resolutions were forwarded to the full City Council by the Rules Committee last week, and are supported by Councilmembers Larry Reid (District 7) and Ignacio De La Fuente (District 5). Reid and De La Fuente announced their intention to pursue further injunctions and a curfew after the August 8 murder of 3-year-old Carlos Nava in an East Oakland drive-by shooting.

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FILED UNDER: Police, anti-loitering, curfew, Gang Injunctions, Oakland, Oakland City Council, Oakland Police Department

August 23, 2011 | 5:52 PM | By Ali Winston

Oakland’s gang injunctions & call-ins: are they compatible?

Ali Winston

Fruitvale injunction defendant Rubel Leal addresses the Oakland City Council on May 17, 2011

[N.B. This post has been updated to reflect the difference in Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts' comments following the shooting of Carlos Nava and the actions of Councilmembers Ignacio De La Fuente and Larry Reid]

The call for more gang injunctions in Oakland has become a full-court press over the past week following the killing of 3-year-old Carlos Fernandez Nava. At an August 11th press conference about the arrest of Nava’s alleged shooter, Police Chief Anthony Batts said it was time Oaklanders took a serious look at gang injunctions:

“Enough with excuses, enough with not doing the right thing, enough with not addressing injunctions, not wanting to do curfews, enough with not taking hard stances,” Batts said. “Because enough life has been lost.”

Oakland Councilmembers Ignacio De La Fuente and Larry Reid took the Nava shooting as an opportunity to call for additional injunctions in West and East Oakland in addition to a citywide youth curfew. A sharp uptick in homicides and gun violence is the impetus for the outcry for these anti-crime measures.

In a Sunday editorial, the Oakland Tribune called for the implementation of a citywide youth curfew to curb youth violence. Were Oakland to pass a curfew, either youth themselves or their parents, or both, could be fined if they fail to obey. Tribune columnist Tammerlin Drummond also came out in support of further injunctions and a curfew to rein in the city’s crime rate last week.

“Things will never improve until our city and community leaders are willing to invest the time, energy and money to craft a comprehensive strategy for attacking the rampant street killing,” Drummond wrote last Monday.

There has been vocal opposition to gang injunctions since former City Attorney John Russo filed Oakland’s first such case against nineteen alleged members of a North Oakland gang in early 2010. Though the North Oakland injunction was approved by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman with little opposition, a substantial community mobilization against the injunctions and a team of pro-bono defense attorneys dragged out the passage of Oakland’s second injunction against Norteños in the Fruitvale over several months of court hearings.

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FILED UNDER: Politics, Cal-GRIP, Call-ins, curfew, Gang Injunctions, Oakland, Oakland Police Department

August 16, 2011 | 5:37 PM | By Ali Winston

Oakland Councilmen call for curfew, more gang injunctions

Oakland City Attorney

Two Oakland Councilmembers are calling for a curfew and more gang injunctions to fight crime

Oakland’s violent summer has reignited debate over controversial gang injunction measures.

An email was sent out earlier today by Councilmembers Larry Reid and Ignacio De La Fuente decrying Oakland’s 75 murders to date and asking residents to support their push for a citywide curfew, the continuation of the Fruitvale injunction against 40 alleged Norteños and new gang injunctions in East and West Oakland.

Reid and De La Fuente’s email, posted after the jump, echoes comments made by Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts in a press conference following the arrest of the alleged killer of Carlos Fernandez Nava. Neither Reid nor De La Fuente returned calls for comment.

Here is an excerpt from the email, which takes issue with fellow councilmembers’ decisions to oppose further gang injunctions:

For many years, some of us elected officials in this City have pushed for enforcement measures that others have opposed, and as a result we have not received the necessary support to enforce or implement some of the crime fighting tools that are available to law enforcement. Whether a curfew or a gang injunction, the argument against such tools is always the same, “It’s a violation of their civil liberties and/or its racial profiling.” Oaklanders came out in record numbers to speak out against the gang injunction, we ask those individuals today, “What about the civil liberties of this little boy who was caught in the crossfire between rival gangs? Who is going to speak up for his civil liberties and those of his family? Who is speaking up for the civil liberties of the young African American and Latino males that are being killed on our streets each year?”

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FILED UNDER: Politics, Gang Injunctions, Ignacio de la Fuente, Larry Reid, Oakland, Oakland Police Department

June 24, 2011 | 5:23 PM | By Ali Winston

Judge issues tentative ruling in favor of Fruitvale gang injunction

Ali Winston

Defense attorney Yolanda Huang addresses reporters after Judge Robert Freedman approved Oakland

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman tentatively approved Oakland’s gang injunction against 40 alleged Norteños in the Fruitvale this afternoon, bringing an end to at least one stage of a court battle that has stretched on for nine months.

In his six page decision, Judge Freedman ruled that attorneys for the city had provided sufficient evidence for him to issue a court order restricting the movements and associations of the defendants.

“Plaintiff has, by the requisite burden of proof, established entitlement to a preliminary injunction as to Phase I,” Freedman’s decision read.

However, it is unclear how many of the defendants would be bound by the court’s decision. Abel Manzo and Javier Quintero, the two defendants who were the subject of court proceedings so far, were named in Freedman’s order. So were Antonio Lambaren, Alberto Acosta and Joey Anthony Martinez, defendants who defaulted on their right to contest their inclusion on the injunction list and who would have been covered by Judge Freedman’s ruling. It is unclear whether Judge Freedman will allow Acosta or Martinez to challenge their inclusion on the list: both filed late requests for counsel after the default deadline had passed.

Further details of the injunction — including which defendants it will affect — will be hammered out by attorneys for both sides and the court by the end of July. “Phase II” of the proceedings will begin in December, when Judge Freedman will hear the individual cases of the 35 remaining defendants who have yet to testify.

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FILED UNDER: Courts, Fruitvale, Gang Injunctions, Nortenos, Oakland, Oakland City Attorney

June 6, 2011 | 3:05 PM | By Ali Winston