Cities sue gangs in bid to stop violence
But the ACLU opposing it certainly gives me a reason to support it.
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."
It's an odd approach. Demanding that people who routinely disobey the law...follow a new set of laws. But the approach is not without it's charm, in that it gives the police new tools to attack gangs and take them down.
But the best feature of this? The ACLU don't like it!
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."
Of course, they know this argument is crap. Injunctions are against specific people. As are all court orders. In the same way that, if you file a restraining order against your Hispanic neighbor-it doesn't apply to all Hispanics, this too doesn't give the police cart blanche to pull over "minorities".
Then again, the ACLU never argues the facts of the case, nor are they particularly truthful. They just argue extreme rhetoric and accuse their opponents of everything short of sacrificing children to the cloud god to make it rain.
Hell, it's not like the ACLU actually cares how their actions affect everyone else. They just like feeling good about themselves at night.
What a group of pricks.
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