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City
Attorney Sets Record Straight on Gang Injunction
Apologizes
for staff’s reluctance to speak with media regarding crime suppression
tool
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin Staff Writer
The city may not
be able to give an estimated completion date for Compton’s first
gang injunction, but The Bulletin has learned that other, more expedient
means of curbing gang activity are in the works.
In a telephone interview late last week, City Atty. Legrand Clegg
spoke with The Bulletin regarding the status of the gang injunction.
Asked for an estimated date the City Attorney’s Office expects the
injunction to be ready for submittal to a judge for final approval, he
couldn’t give a direct answer.
He admitted that both his office’s novice status with this particular
type of civil sanction as well as the Sheriff’s Department’s
newness in the community is resulting in the injunction process being a
bit lengthy. But he doesn’t believe it’s taking too long.
“Being without the former Compton P.D., which had the intricate knowledge
of these groups” has had an affect on the pace, he said.
He did say, however, that the Sheriff’s Department has been very
forthcoming and that his office and the department have been meeting often
regarding the matter to “flesh out” solutions.
Because his office is new to the world of gang injunctions, he said
his main concern is that if the city’s injunction is not substantive
enough to succeed, it could give gang members a leg up on the city. And
he also wants to ensure the city’s approach doesn’t encroach
upon the First Amendment right to free association.
“The Sheriff’s Department told us it should take about 18 months.
It has been 10 months now, and initially we were hoping to bring
it to a close.”
But other options have come to light, he said, and instead of throwing
all of the office’s resources into the injunction, Clegg is trying
to simultaneously tackle a number of alternatives that would stem gang
activity and violence.
“We are looking at other options — not that we’re abandoning
the injunction.” He said the injunction is more long term, while
these new options will come to fruition the by the end of the year.
These other options, which he declined to discuss on the record because
he doesn’t “want to put all our cards on the table,” are
being considered because the city is aware that what works in other cities
may not work so well in the Hub City, he said.
“Our concern is that formulas that work elsewhere may not be effective
for us. What may work in Long Beach might not in Compton. Given our
unique circumstances and the plethora of gang violence, the solutions are
different.”
The city attorney described the other options as “more achievable
in a shorter amount of time” and said they should be implemented
within the next two to three months. And coupled with the eventual wrapping
up of the injunction, the city will be serving gang members a “one-two
punch.”
Clegg also expressed regret that the attorneys in his office were
not willing to discuss the injunction with The Bulletin during the previous
two weeks.
“I’d like to apologize for the reticence of my staff about
the injunction,” said
Clegg. “I had advised them to be guarded with what they reveal, especially
to the media.”
He said their “overabundance of reluctance to share” information
pertaining to the status of the injunction was not aimed at keeping the
public uninformed.
“I’ve been in this community for 55 years,” he said. “Of
course I want the opportunity to let the community know what’s going
on.”
But he said he and his office also have the responsibility of not
giving gang members the opportunity to learn the city’s game plan.
“The point is, it’s hard to divulge the information, assuming
[gang members] or their friends read [the paper]. We don’t want them
to know what steps we are taking,” Clegg said.
“It might embolden the target groups to increase their criminal activity.”
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