“We are thrilled that the court vacated this misguided, overbroad, and constitutionally suspect law enforcement tactic,” David Reymann, a cooperating attorney with the ACLU, said in a news release. “The constitution demands that parties whose rights will be affected must be given a meaningful day in court, and that simply did not happen in this case.”
Within the “safety zone,” a 25-square-mile area encompassing most of the city of Ogden, gang members were banned from “[d]riving, standing, sitting, walking, gathering, or appearing together” in public view.
The injunction further prohibited members from “[c]onfronting, intimidating, annoying, harassing, threatening, challenging, provoking, [or] assaulting any person” who might have witnessed or been the victim of the gang’s activities.
It also imposed a curfew between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. except when members were traveling to and from “work, from any non-gang related entertainment event, school activities, and religious services.”
Authorities said they had seen a sharp decline in crime following the implementation of the injunction, which if violated, was punishable by up to six month in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.
“Case loads on average going from 16 per month on something like graffiti down to four. So we can show a 75 percent drop in criminal street gang activity,” said Miles, who told KTVX-TV the ruling would not deter them from going after the gang again.
“We got the conditions of the court, we’ve got the additional evidence that they would like to see on the record that will allow us to pursue them. We are prepared to do that.”
Article Appeared @http://abcnews.go.com/US/controversial-gang-injunction-overturned-utah-supreme-court/story?id=20624285