Los Angeles City Attorney Gang Division
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LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY GANG DIVISION PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION REGARDING GANG PROSECUTION, GANG INJUNCTIONS AND GANG INJUNCTION REMOVAL PETITION WWW.LACITY.ORG/ATTY LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE GANG DIVISION WEBSITE TABLE OF CONTENTS • Anti-Gang Action Plan • Community law Enforcement and Recovery (CLEAR) Program • Gang Injunction Facts o English o Spanish • Gang Injunction Guidelines • Gang Injunctions • Gang Injunctions How And Why They Work o English o Spanish • Los Angeles County Grand Jury Report on Civil Gang Injunctions • Petition For Removal From Gang Injunction o English Petition o Spanish Petition • Removal Petition Information • Taking Out Urban and Headquarters (TOUGH) Program LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE GANG DIVISION WEBSITE TABLE OF CONTENTS • Anti-Gang Action Plan • Community law Enforcement and Recovery (CLEAR) Program • Gang Injunction Facts o English o Spanish • Gang Injunction Guidelines • Gang Injunctions • Gang Injunctions How And Why They Work o English o Spanish • Los Angeles County Grand Jury Report on Civil Gang Injunctions • Petition For Removal From Gang Injunction o English Petition o Spanish Petition • Removal Petition Information • Taking Out Urban and Headquarters (TOUGH) Program A Message from the Los Angeles City Attorney Dear Colleagues: As Los Angeles City Attorney, I have made eradicating the criminal street gangs who terrorize our neighborhoods one of my top priorities. For me, keeping the residents of Los Angeles safe and secure is job No. 1, and people cannot possibly feel safe and secure living in the midst of gang violence. As a former Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, and now as City Attorney, I have learned that the economic revitalization so critical to Los Angeles’ success simply cannot occur in communities plagued by such violence. Over the past five years, through the effective use of a comprehensive approach – with innovative programs and initiatives designed to prevent, interdict, and suppress gang activity – and in concert with our partners in law enforcement, we’ve been able to reduce both the number of gang members, and incidents of gang violence. Los Angeles Police Department data show that, from 2001 to 2005, gang membership in the City plummeted 33%, and gang violence actually dropped 3.3%. Unfortunately, new data indicate that 2006 saw a spike in gang-related crime – 14% citywide, 3% in Central Los Angeles, 23% in South Los Angeles, and 42% in the San Fernando Valley. Statistics aside, it is clear that gangs remain Los Angeles’ most significant crime problem. Thus we must immediately act to address this situation. While my office has been a leader in the fight against L.A. gangs, I recognize that the City Attorney is only one agent in this fight. Thus, this plan is designed to serve as part of a working partnership with Mayor Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton, as well as my fellow law enforcement professionals throughout the region and state. Together, we can eradicate the gangs who terrorize our neighborhoods. And together, we will. This anti-gang plan is designed to serve as a resource for those seeking to craft a citywide approach to reducing gang activity. It combines information about proven existing programs with dozens of new programs and proposals that will serve to aid the City of Los Angeles in its broader effort to stem the tide – and stop the violence. It is also my hope that the aforementioned proposals will lead to a greater dialogue about how we can do things differently, and work collaboratively to effectively address this problem. Thank you for reviewing this guide and I look forward to engaging in a broader dialogue with you and all law enforcement professionals throughout the region and State as to how best to end the scourge of gang violence. Sincerely, Rocky Delgadillo A Collaborative Anti-Gang Effort – The Key to Success I have long believed that the only way to fix our gang problem is to use a collaborative, proactive approach. A scattershot, reactive approach to gang reduction does not - and will not - work. I’ve worked to build partnerships with law enforcement agencies, and community and private organizations, and have implemented both prevention and suppression programs designed to significantly reduce the number of gang members in Los Angeles and the violence they inflict on our communities. What follows is my plan to strengthen the City of Los Angeles’ anti-gang efforts. A Three-Pronged Strategy to Attack Gang Problems in Los Angeles In light of the recent spike in gang violence across Los Angeles, my office has formulated a three-prong anti-gang strategy that will guide our efforts to significantly reduce, and ultimately eradicate, gang activity in the city. The Three Components Are: Prevention Prevent at-risk youth from joining criminal street gangs and encourage and provide the means for young members to safely leave gang life. Suppression Suppress and disrupt criminal gang activity and protect the local community through gang injunctions, nuisance abatement actions, unlawful business practice actions, aggressive prosecutions of gang members and their accomplices, as well as protect residents from violence and intimidation, keep school environments, recreational areas, and the Internet safe from gangs, and halt community deterioration due to the defacing and destruction of property, quality of life crimes, and loss of businesses. Eradication Eradicate the link between criminal street gangs and proceeds from the drug trade and other illegal activities, such as identity theft and human trafficking, and shut down the sources that feed the growth of gangs. 2 PPREVENTION Any comprehensive anti-gang action plan must contain a prevention component. In our attempts to get smarter in how we fight gangs, my gang prosecutors and I continue to find that targeting at-risk youth with programs designed to keep them safe, in school, and away from gang recruiters is critical to our success in reducing both the number of gang members, and incidents of gang violence. Children and youth who live in violent or abusive homes and who are regularly truant are more likely to enter a life of crime, and more likely to join a gang. Any gang prosecutor you talk to will tell you they’ve never met a gang member who wasn’t a truant first. Thus it is incumbent upon law enforcement professionals and elected officials to stop passing the buck, and make sure our kids are safe at home, safe at school, and in the neighborhood. The key components of prevention are: · Ensuring the Safety of the Environment in and Surrounding Schools · Providing Safe Passage To and From School · Anti-Truancy Programs and Prosecutions · Targeting Adults Who Encourage or Facilitate Gang Membership for Minors · Violence-Free Homes Safe Schools: School Safety Prosecutors Last year, in response to concerns raised at a series of public hearings hosted by my office and attended by educators, law enforcement, community leaders, parents, and students, I created the School Safety Prosecutor Program. The program, an adjunct to our successful Neighborhood Prosecutor Program, is focused on eradicating crime in areas immediately surrounding our schools. School Safety Prosecutors will provide a single point of contact for residents, businesses and other city agencies to work with in combating crime in areas surrounding schools. Support for the program has been provided by the Los Angeles City Council. 3 As part of an increased effort to prevent our at-risk youth from joining criminal street gangs, my school safety prosecutors will work in partnership with the neighborhoods and law enforcement professionals within their respective jurisdictions to keep local kids in school and out of gangs, to develop targeted strategies to keep local gangs from trying to recruit kids from local schools, and to facilitate critical information sharing between law enforcement and school officials so problems are not allowed to develop into crises. As part of a comprehensive response to a recent surge in gang violence across the City, I intend to work with the City Council and the Mayor in the coming weeks to explore significantly expanding this innova- tive, community-based program. (New Program) L.A. SAVES L.A. SAVES is an inter-agency partnership brought together by my office to protect our children from violent offenders who are wanted by the courts and live near schools – and who are often gang members. The law enforcement agencies participating in L.A. SAVES identify felons on probation or parole in the areas around a target school, focusing on those convicted of violent crimes and/or firearms and sex offenses. A computer search then determines if any of them are wanted by the court. Once a target area is identified, a strategy for arresting these wanted felons is implemented. Our partners in L.A. SAVES include the Los Angeles County Probation Department, the juvenile and adult parole divisions of the State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles School Police, the Department of Children and Family Services, and other law enforcement agencies. Results have been significant. In 2006, L.A. SAVES: · Removed 41 wanted criminals from the neighborhoods surrounding 14 high schools. · Saved 40 children who were living in hazardous conditions. · Recovered a variety of illegal weapons and narcotics. The L.A. SAVES program has played a key role in law enforcement efforts to keep convicted felons, many of whom are gang members, away from our kids and their schools. (Existing Program) 4 Kid Watch In this safe passage program, dedicated volunteers throughout Los Angeles are helping to protect our kids as they travel to and from school. This year, 52 public elementary schools and more than 430 volunteers par- ticipated in Kid Watch L.A. The program recently ex- panded to include training for parents on such topics as child abuse prevention, nutrition, and job training.