The data also show progressive improvements over time, with only 14 percent of identified gang members (13 of 93) arrested for non-injunction crimes to that point in 2010 - down from 41 percent in 2007. Since San Francisco’s gang injunction program was launched at the end of 2006, 46 percent of identified gang members (43 of 93) had gone without even a single arrest in San Francisco for crimes other than minor violations of the injunction itself in 2010. “The gang injunctions played a role in that.”Īn internal analysis of arrest data by the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office suggested another important effect of civil gang injunctions: a general “cooling off” effect among gang members named in the various injunctions, who had markedly fewer arrests citywide following the imposition of injunctions. “Last year was a historic low in homicides, and we are now on par this year to be at the same level,” Godown said. In 2010, then-Assistant Police Chief Jeff Godown told the San Francisco Chronicle that the injunctions were helpful for reducing the number homicides ion gang areas. After the injunction, the amount dropped to 58. Felony convictions for those members before the injunctions totaled 104. In all four gang injunctions, crime by enjoined gang members within the safety zone dropped. While it is often difficult to draw conclusions about causality from crime statistics, anecdotal evidence indicates that San Francisco’s civil gang injunction program has played a role - alongside the work being done by San Francisco’s Police Department and San Francisco’s District Attorney - in reducing gang related violence and nuisance conduct. The Effectiveness of Civil Gang Injunctions in S.F. Bayview/Hunters Point Civil Gang Injunction: 14 were removed 18 remain enjoined.Western Addition Civil Gang Injunction: 34 were removed 8 remain enjoined.Mission Civil Gang Injunction: 16 were removed 8 remain enjoined.Visitacion Valley Civil Gang Injunction: 22 were removed 19 remain enjoined.In 2018, the court granted Herrera’s requests to remove a significant number of formerly active gang members: As part of that review, he filed legal motions asking the San Francisco Superior Court to modify the injunctions to remove individuals who were no longer engaged in criminal gang activity. In light of the changed circumstances and improved public safety, Herrera in April 2018 launched a comprehensive review of the gang injunctions. One of the gangs, Knock Out Posse, crumbled altogether and is now no longer an organized gang. In the years since the injunctions were put in place, many of the named gang members have quit their gangs. San Francisco’s gang injunctions are unique and have always been designed to protect civil rights while achieving public safety. Rather, they were one piece of a coordinated effort by the City Attorney’s Office, District Attorney’s Office and San Francisco Police Department to counter violent street gangs and the harms they inflicted on the San Francisco neighborhoods they claimed as “turf.” The injunctions were not envisioned as a panacea for gang violence. The Western Addition-based Knock Out Posse gang.The Western Addition-based Eddy Rock gang.The Western Addition-based Chopper City gang.The Visitacion Valley-based Towerside gang.The Visitacion Valley-based Down Below Gangsters. The Bayview/Hunters Point-based Oakdale Mob.The following gangs were named in the injunctions issued by San Francisco Superior Court: Each injunction covers one of four geographic areas. Since the end of 2006, City Attorney Dennis Herrera has obtained four civil injunctions against seven violent street gangs that had been plaguing San Francisco neighborhoods with their criminal and nuisance conduct.
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