Gang Injunction Trial Starts in Woodland
The long-awaited trial to determine if a controversial gang injunction here is needed, and if it's racially biased in a community already threatened by police violence against Latinos starts TUESDAY, at 9 a.m. in Dept. 1 at the Yolo County Courthouse.
Civil libertarians say the injunction violates civil rights and has been criticized by the community it purportedly seeks to protect.
The injunction was first proposed and allowed to be implemented several years ago despite protestations by residents of Broderick and Bryte who claim the injunction is unneeded and racially motivated.
Concerned citizens are calling on Yolo County Superior Court Judge Kathleen White to end the Broderick Boys Gang Injunction which they maintain is criminalizing mostly Latino/Latina local youth by incorrectly labeling them as gang members and is being used by the West Sacramento Police Department (WSPD) and the Yolo County District Attorney's Office to win government grants for "gang deterrence."
The community and civil libertarians charge the injunction violates civil rights because individuals do not have to commit a crime to be subject to the gang injunction. And clear and convincing evidence that someone is a gang member is not required; simply being identified as a "Broderick Boy" and being served with papers by the police are enough to make someone subject to the curfews and other restrictions of the injunction.
Residents have insisted and testified that there is not the level of crime in the communities of Broderick and Bryte that would warrant a gang injunction and that the injunction has led to harassment and racial profiling in the Latino community.
Residents maintain the injunction is targeting innocent citizens and that the community has been torn apart by the injunction. The community was never consulted, nor advised, of the impacts and the way the WSPD would label citizens as gang members and the effect of such a judicial declaration that they all live in an area that is a public nuisance.
