Spitzer & SAPD Seek to EXPAND Townsend St. Gang Injunction Today.

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from Chicanxs Unidxs:

OCDA Pushing Outdated Policies

WHO/WHAT: Chicanxs Unidxs and community attorneys are going to court to challenge the OCDA
and SAPD who want to add 9 more people to the Townsend gang injunction in Santa Ana
WHEN: Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 9:30am
WHERE: OC Superior Court, 700 W. Civic Center Dr, Santa Aa, CA 92701, Dept C16

WHY: On August 18, 2020, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer will ask the Superior Court to expand the Townsend Street gang injunction in Santa Ana by subjecting nine new people to the injunction. The Townsend gang injunction cost tax payers millions of dollars for 14 people. The OCDA and Santa Ana Police Department are at it again as they push to add another nine people. These outdated policies have been abandoned by counties across the state of California, even District Attorney Todd Spitzer has called them outdated. During his campaign in 2018, Spitzer stated he would not be in support of gang injunctions and would seek less punitive measures to address community violence. Since 2018, the OCDA has added more people to gang injunctions.

Community members, advocates for public safety, civil rights organizers, and attorneys, often led in Orange County by the community organization Chicanxs Unidxs, have long criticized gang injunctions as racially biased and ineffective. The last time the OCDA attempted to initiate two new gang injunctions, People v. Plas and People v. La Jolla, the cases were dismissed after the OCDA was unable to prove that it would benefit the public to subject any of the nearly 50 people they served with the injunction. This is unsurprising as nearly all of them already had probation agreements with the OCDA with “gang terms” that were nearly identical to the terms of the gang injunction, and the remaining people were only tangentially associated with the gang and were not active gang participants. The OCDA’s current motion is no different. Of the nine people, all are either already incarcerated, have left the country, or are not active gang participants. In order for people to be added to a gang injunction the OCDA must show there are no other remedies to address behaviors.

Following the OCDA’s loss in the 2013 gang injunction case Vasquez v. Rackauckas, Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Ventura have all abandoned gang injunctions. Orange County had to pay out over $6,000,0000 in attorney fees for the Vasquez v. Rackauckas case, not counting the cost in county resource. The Fullerton Tokers Town injunction is currently being challenged in the California Court of Appeal.

“How much is it costing taxpayers in the city of Santa Ana and the county as a whole to put 9 people on one gang injunction? Millions of dollars are spent on gang injunctions and operations with federal agencies, that could be done through probation/parole searches/violations. In a time of crisis like COVID, it’s a shame that so much time and money is spent on outdated tactics” – Chicanxs Unidxs


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