CITIES SUE GANGS IN BID TO STOP VIOLENCE

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Fed up with deadly drive-by shootings, incessant
drug dealing and graffiti, cities nationwide are trying a different
tactic to combat gangs: They're suing them.

Fort Worth and San Francisco are among the latest to file lawsuits
against gang members, asking courts for injunctions barring them from
hanging out together on street corners, in cars or anywhere else in
certain areas.

The injunctions are aimed at disrupting gang activity before it can
escalate. They also give police legal reasons to stop and question
gang members, who often are found with drugs or weapons, authorities
said. In some cases, they don't allow gang members to even talk to
people passing in cars or to carry spray paint.

"It is another tool," said Kevin Rousseau, a Tarrant County assistant
prosecutor in Fort Worth, which recently filed its first civil
injunction against a gang. "This is more of a proactive approach."

But critics say such lawsuits go too far, limiting otherwise lawful
activities and unfairly targeting minority youth.

"If you're barring people from talking in the streets, it's difficult
to tell if they're gang members or if they're people discussing
issues," said Peter Bibring, an attorney with the American Civil
Liberties Union of Southern California. "And it's all the more
troubling because it doesn't seem to be effective."

Civil injunctions were first filed against gang members in the 1980s
in the Los Angeles area, a breeding ground for gangs including some of
the country's most notorious, such as the Crips and 18th Street.

The Los Angeles city attorney's suit in 1987 against the Playboy
Gangster Crips covered the entire city but was scaled back after a
judge deemed it too broad.

Chicago tried to target gangs by enacting an anti-loitering ordinance
in 1992 but the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in 1999, saying it
gave police the authority to arrest without cause.

Since then, cities have used injunctions to target specific gangs or
gang members, and so far that strategy has withstood court challenges.

Los Angeles now has 33 permanent injunctions involving 50 gangs, and
studies have shown they do reduce crime, said Jonathan Diamond, a
spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

The injunctions prohibit gang members from associating with each
other, carrying weapons, possessing drugs, committing crimes and
displaying gang symbols in a safety zone - neighborhoods where
suspected gang members live and are most active. Some injunctions set
curfews for members and ban them from possessing alcohol in public
areas - even if they're of legal drinking age.

Those who disobey the order face a misdemeanor charge and up to a year
in jail. Prosecutors say the possibility of a jail stay - however
short - is a strong deterrent, even for gang members who've already
served hard time for other crimes.

"Seven months in jail is a big penalty for sitting on the front porch
or riding in the car with your gang buddies," said Kinley Hegglund,
senior assistant city attorney for Wichita Falls.

Last summer, Wichita Falls sued 15 members of the Varrio Carnales gang
after escalating violence with a rival gang, including about 50
drive-by shootings in less than a year in that North Texas city of
100,000.

Since then, crime has dropped about 13 percent in the safety zone and
real estate values are climbing, Hegglund said.

Other cities hope for similar results.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sued four gangs in June
after an "explosion" in gang violence, seven months after filing the
city's first gang-related civil injunction.

Fort Worth sued 10 members of the Northcide Four Trey Gangsta Crips in
May after two gang members were killed in escalating violence, said
Assistant City Attorney Chris Mosley.

"Our hope is that these defendants will be scared into compliance just
by having these injunctions against them," Mosley said.

However, some former gang members say such legal maneuvers wouldn't
have stopped them.

Usamah Anderson, 30, of Fort Worth, said he began stealing cars and
got involved with gangs as a homeless 11-year-old. He was arrested
numerous times for theft and spent time in juvenile facilities.

Anderson says if a civil injunction had been in place then, he and his
friends would have simply moved outside the safety zone.

"That's the life you live, so you're going to find a way to maneuver
around it," said Anderson, a truck driver who abandoned the gang life
about seven years ago and has started a church to help young gang members.

The ACLU and other critics of gang injunctions favor community
programs. The Rev. Jack Crane, pastor of Truevine Missionary Baptist
Church in Fort Worth, is helping Anderson's group provide gang members
with counseling, shoes and other resources needed to help them escape
that life.

"We don't want to lose another generation," Crane said.

Some residents in the Fort Worth safety zone say they feel better with
the injunction in place.

Phoebe Picazo, who recently moved to the city to care for her elderly
parents, said she hears gunfire almost every night.

"This has always been a quiet community with a lot of seniors, but now
we're having to keep our doors locked," Picazo said. "With the
injunction, I feel better for my folks."