Imperial police seeks gang injunction

ANTOINE ABOU-DIWAN (Imperial Valley Press) | April 20, 2013

IMPERIAL — The city of Imperial is pursuing a civil gang injunction against a local gang, the first for the area.

“We’ve been working on that for months,” said Imperial Police Chief Miguel Colon, confirming that “ImpXIII” is the group in question.

The impetus for seeking the injunction, Colon said, was a situation near F and 10th streets in Imperial, where members of ImpXIII harassed and threatened area residents over a period of three years.

Seven people were arrested between October and November 2011.

“You can’t take action until there is probable cause. It was hit and miss,” Colon said, recalling why it took so long to build a case and eventually make arrests.

Civil gang injunctions apply public nuisance laws on the activities of criminal street gangs. They typically seek to limit or forbid gang members from congregating in specific areas, flashing gang signs and engaging in graffiti.

“It’s a civil remedy as opposed to a criminal remedy,” City Attorney Dennis Morita said. “If you violate an injunction, it is punished as contempt of court.”

Read more at: http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-news-imperial-police-seeks-gang-injunction-20130421,0,482899.story