GANG WATCHERS ®

† 02-22-08 : ILLINOIS - SENATE APPROVES GANG CRACKDOWN : LANSING -- The Senate unanimously passed four bills Thursday to crack down on gang activity. The four bills, all passed by 38-0 votes and sent to the House for consideration, would make it a serious crime to recruit or coerce someone to join a gang or help it commit a felony. That would be punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years and/or a fine as high as $5,000. The bills also call for a prison sentence of up to 20 years and/or a maximum fine of $20,000 against anyone deterring someone from quitting a gang, or retaliating against that person.

† 02-05-08 : CALIFORNIA - GANG BARRED FROM GATHERING DOWNTOWN : Los Angeles - A judge Tuesday barred Fifth & Hill Gang members from congregating on some downtown streets, an order authorities said will aid the fight against street drug sales. The temporary injunction issued by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant applies to an area bounded by Second Street to the north, San Pedro Street to the east, ninth Street to the south and Olive Street to the west. The gang, believed to have about 150 members, controls the heroin trade downtown, according to court papers filed by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

† 01-31-08 : SOUTH DAKOTA - BILL WOULD MAKE GANG BRANDING ILLEGAL : PIERRE, (AP) - Gangs in Sioux Falls and Rapid City are increasingly resorting to the grisly practice of branding new members, state legislators were told Wednesday. Minnehaha County prosecutor Bonnie Costain said branding with such things as cigarette lighters, chemicals and heated knives should be made a crime, even if those who are scarred agree to have it done. The average age of youngsters recruited by the gangs is 11, and many of those kids are being branded as an initiation, she said Wednesday. "Consent is not a defense," Costain told the House Judiciary Committee, which unanimously endorsed HB1162. The deputy state's attorney said gangs have long used tattoos to designate membership, but that costs money. She said branding has become more popular because gangs can do it themselves.

† 01-29-08 : UTAH - BILLS TARGET UTAH'S GANG PROBLEM : Salt Lake City - A pair of bills aimed at tackling Utah's escalating gang problem today earned the approval of the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee. Sen. Jon Greiner, R-Ogden, who is Ogden's police chief and sponsor of SB65 and SB75, says a spike in gang activity in several Utah cities is a catalyst to add changes to gang laws already on the books. SB65 makes it a class B misdemeanor to intimidate a minor to join or leave a street gang and increases the penalty for continually recruiting a minor into a gang. The bill makes intimidating a minor to commit a crime or recruiting youth more than once in 180 days to join a gang a class A misdemeanor.

† 01-24-08 : CALIFORNIA - COMPTON SEEKS TO RESTRICT MOB PIRU GANG : L.A. - The city cracks down on Mob Piru members and names rap mogul Marion 'Suge' Knight in its injunction. Seeking to further curb criminal activities, Compton has asked a judge to ban individuals identified as members of the Mob Piru street gang -- including rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight -- from congregating in a northeast neighborhood. Using a strategy employed by other crime-ridden communities, the court order would be the first gang injunction in a city with a long history of battling street gangs. Authorities contend that the Mob Piru gang has terrorized the neighborhood for years, with buying and selling of drugs, discharging firearms, robbing and assaulting residents and by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

† 01-23-08 : FLORIDA - ANTI-GANG LEGISLATION UNVEILED : TALLAHASSEE - Senate and House leaders were joined by Attorney General Bill McCollum Wednesday to announce tough anti-gang legislation to deal with Florida's growing criminal gang problem. Senate Bill (SB) 76, and House Bill (HB) 43, would help law enforcement and prosecutors combat gang activity by increasing penalties for convicted criminal gang members. Those are gang members who fail to register with local law enforcement agencies upon release from prison. It also broadens the definition of criminal gangs to include terrorist organizations and hate groups. The House Bill calls for harsher penalties for gang ringleaders and restricts felons and delinquents from possessing bullet-proof vests. HB 43 also increases penalties for habitual offenders convicted of gang-related crimes and for possession or creation of fraudulent identification documents for gang activity.

† 01-15-08 : KANSAS - WHAT IF {GANGSTA} MUSIC HAS NO CHARMS ? : KANSAS CITY - It is easy to understand and even sympathize with State Rep. Peggy Mast’s decision to raise the flag against gangsta rap. Mast says she will sponsor a resolution in the Kansas House, condemning the music form that, critics say, demeans women and promotes violence. There is no question that gangsta rap demeans women. In gangsta rap, women are portrayed either as casual sexual objects or as targets of misogynistic violence. It is the music genre that brought the word “Ho” into the nation’s vocabulary. When Don Imus made the comment that got him in so much hot water last year, he was not being particularly daring or even creatively offensive. Imus was just a creaky, old white hipster parroting the successful spiel of younger, blacker performers.

† 01-01-08 : CALIFORNIA - NEW PARENTING LAW FOR GANG PARENTS : SANTA BARBARA - Lawmakers hope a new bill being enacted this year will reduce California's gang violence. Here are the Facts First : The Parental Accountability Act allows courts to order parents of young gang members to attend parenting classes. Courses will teach parents how to identify gang and drug activity in their kids. They will also learn better communication skills with their children. Gang violence has been in the forefront in Santa Barbara this year. Police have identified 700 gang members living in the city -- The new law will hold parents of gang members accountable for their children's actions.

† 12-16-07 : NEW JERSEY - ANTI-CRIME LEGISLATION GETS FOCUS : TRENTON – Legislators are pushing tougher laws on guns and combating crimes amid increasing worry over violent gang crimes. A Senate committee is slated Monday to weigh several anti-crime bills, including some already approved by the Assembly. The focus comes with the legislative session ending on Jan. 8. All bills not passed by then expire ... Yet another bill would create the crimes of "gang criminality" and "promoting organized street crime. By virtually making just being a gang member a crime, "we hope to dissuade impressionable youngsters from making a mistake that could mar the rest of their lives," Watson Coleman said.

† 12-06-07 : OKLAHOMA - GROUPS PREPARE TO FIGHT GANGS : Oklahoma City – After hearing that gang information in the state is "absolutely lacking,” two state groups are seeking legislation next year to help coordinate and set up a procedure to identify the growing number of gangs in Oklahoma. An Oklahoma criminal justice professor told the groups Wednesday that a survey he conducted of law officers in the state shows Oklahoma has 1,006 gangs with about 13,500 members. About 81 percent of Oklahoma's gangs are in four major counties, said Michael Wilds, an associate professor of criminal justice and legal studies at Northeastern State University. Findings are based on responses from about 350 law officers.

† 11-28-07 : NEW HAMPSHIRE - GANGBANGER BILL GOES TO LEGISLATURE : Concord – Prosecutors could seek longer sentences for gang members convicted of crimes under a bill coming to the Legislature in January. Sen. Ted Gatsas, R-Manchester, has proposed a bill that would allow a felony conviction to carry a prison term of up to 30 years, and a misdemeanor up to five years in prison if a jury finds a person committed a crime as part of gang membership. Gatsas said national and regional gangs are spreading into New Hampshire, starting with its large cities.

† 11-28-07 : CALIFORNIA - INJUNCTION ISSUED AGAINST LATINO STREET GANG : Vista – For the second time in a decade, authorities have obtained an injunction against a Latino street gang that investigators say has been terrorizing San Marcos neighborhoods. Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Casserly issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday against nearly 100 members of Varrio San Marcos, considered to be one of the largest gangs in San Diego County. The gang is believed responsible for seven homicides in San Marcos over the last four years. Casserly said that VSM constituted a criminal street gang under state law and was interfering with the life of the communities they dominate.

† 11-17-07 : CALIFORNIA - JUDGE OKs CURBS ON 2 O.C. GANGS : Los Angeles - A Superior Court judge approved sweeping preliminary injunctions Friday making it illegal for 226 alleged members of two rival gangs to associate in designated areas of San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. The two injunctions signed by Judge Daniel Didier were against the Varrio Viejo gang in San Juan Capistrano and Varrio Chico gang in San Clemente. Law enforcement officials said the action was needed to stop members from terrorizing residents and because of fights between the groups.

† 11-13-07 : NORTH CAROLINA - GANGS MAY FACE MAFIA LAWS IN CITY : Duram - With gang violence a consistent concern for Durham residents, city officials are considering resurrecting old laws used to prosecute mafia members in an effort to tame Durham's gangs. The laws fall under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, a federal statute implemented in 1970. With the act in place, law officials were able to prosecute known mafia members with harsher sentences. Today, Durham gang members convicted of a crime are tried as normal offenders, but under RICO, they would be prosecuted more strictly if their association with an organized gang could be proven, a move some say is necessary to fight a persistent gang problem.

† 10-16-07 : CALIFORNIA - JUDGE GIVE NORTENOS STRICT RESTRICTIONS : San Francisco - Thirty alleged Norteño gang members can't associate with each other in public, loiter outside after 10 p.m. or wear the group's trademark red within a wide swath of San Francisco's Mission District under a preliminary civil injunction granted by a judge. In an order released Monday, Superior Court Judge Patrick Mahoney said the gang's movements can be restricted because the Norteños are a public nuisance, dealing drugs and grabbing territory through "violence, weapons possession, fighting and destruction of public and private property."

† 10-11-07 : CALIFORNIA - GUV TO SIGN 5 NEW LAWS TO FIGHT GANG VIOLENCE : Sacramento - Addressing the plague of gang violence in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign five bills aimed at stemming the tide of killings, including the creation of a state office of gang and youth violence policy to oversee the efforts, a spokesman said Wednesday. Other bills scheduled to receive the governor's signature today will allow judges to order parents of gang members to attend anti-violence classes, improve protection to witnesses of gang killings and arm prosecutors with power to evict gang members caught in possession of weapons in apartment buildings used as hangouts.

† 10-11-07 : CALIFORNIA - SHERIFF BACA PLANS CLEARINGHOUSE ON GANGS : Los Angeles - Taking a page from the county's natural disaster playbook, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Wednesday that he planned to open the region's first Southern California Gang Emergency Operations Center -- a clearinghouse of anti-gang initiatives, social programs and information databases. "We lost less than 500 people in natural disasters, but when we come to gangs, we've lost 5,000 people," Baca said.

† 10-09-07 : CALIFORNIA - BILL WOULD COMBINE NATIONAL GANG DATA : Sacramento - Police nationwide would be able to swap information about gang members, their crimes, cars and other information under a proposal by a Northern San Joaquin Valley lawmaker. A state database already tracks gang members. But the national gang activity database proposed by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, would authorize a broader system connecting agencies across the country. He said the system should increase the number of gang busts similar to those in Stockton earlier this year. Police invited the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to help in a joint investigation of drug operations and gangs, and they arrested about 50 people from January to July.

† 10-02-07 : WASHINGTON - GRANDVIEW ADOPTS ANTI-GANG ORDINANCES : Yakima - Criminal street gangs remain a problem in the Yakima area. Yesterday the Grandview City Council passed an overhaul of the municipal code with several provisions to crack down on gangs. Meanwhile, in Yakima, a drive-by shooting in which two teenagers were injured has been blamed on gang retaliation. The measures adopted in Grandview are different from ordinances that outlaw gang membership in Yakima, Union Gap and Sunnyside. Instead, the changes in Grandview include tougher penalties and mandatory minimum sentences for crimes that involve gangs. Those provisions apply regardless of whether the perpetrator is a gang member. Another change imposes a curfew between midnight and 5 a.m.

† 09-24-07 : CALIFORNIA - FATE OF GANG BILL RESTS WITH GOV : Sacramento — The fate of a bill requiring parents of young gang members to take parenting classes now rests with the governor. The bill was passed by the Legislature, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has until Oct. 12 to sign the Parental Accountability Act. The program seeks to teach parents to identify when their children are involved in gang and drug activity and how to communicate with teens. It will also show them where to get educational support, job training and recreational activities for young people.

† 09-22-07 : CALIFORNIA - GANG-TAX MEASURE APPROVED FOR BALLOT : Los Angeles — L.A.'s City Council moved Friday to ask voters in February to approve a $30 parcel tax on every city property owner to raise funds to fight gangs. In a 12-0 vote without comment, the council instructed the City Attorney's Office to craft language for a ballot measure on the plan. The move comes despite public opposition this week from City Controller Laura Chick, who has vowed to fight the measure if the council sends it to voters before her audit of city gang programs is completed. [Readers Response]

† 09-21-07 : WISCONSIN - MAKING GANG-FREE ZONES TO COMBAT GANGS : Dane County — Establishing "gang-free school zones" so area students can learn in a safer environment is a key recommendation on how to combat gangs in Madison and Dane County. The goal is included in the final report released today from the Enhanced Youth Gang Prevention Task Force, a group put together in May 2006 by Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and County Executive Kathleen Falk to pinpoint gang-related problems in the community and how to deal with those problems.

† 09-21-07 : WASH D.C. - SENATE TO DEVOTE $1B TO FIGHT GANGS : WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Friday agreed to devote $1 billion over the next five years to combat street gangs and protect witnesses of gang violence. Legislation approved by voice vote also establishes new federal crimes to cover gang recruitment and illegal acts by gangs, and increases penalties for gang-related crimes. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., sponsor of the bill with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said it was aimed at "providing a federal hand of assistance to those on the front lines" in the war against street gangs.

† 09-15-07 : CHICAGO - COUNTY SUIT TARGETS 3rd STREET GANG : DUPAGE - DuPage County has filed a civil suit against a street gang active in West Chicago and Addison, the third such suit filed against gangs by the county. DuPage County State's Atty. Joseph Birkett contends that the Surenos gang, also known as the Thirteens, has "permeated neighborhoods and schools to the point where no child is immune to their presence."

† 09-15-07 : CALIFORNIA - CRIMINAL STREET GANG HIT WITH MULTIPLE RESTRICTIONS : RIVERSIDE - A judge authorized a preliminary injunction on Friday that declared Riverside's East Side Riva gang a public nuisance, officials said Saturday. "It's clear to me East Side Riva is a criminal street gang," said Judge Edward D. Webster in his courtroom. District Attorney Rod Pacheco sought the civil injunction to subvert the gang that officials said is responsible for several homicides and hundreds of other crimes in Riverside's Eastside neighborhood, many of which target black residents, according to the Press-Enterprise.

† 09-15-07 : CALIFORNIA - GANGS : AUTHORITIES {IN VISALIA} TURN TO NEW WEAPON : Tulare County law enforcement agencies are getting ready to bring a new legal weapon to the war on street gangs. Called a gang injunction, its supporters say its purpose is to break up public gatherings of two or more gang members and their associates on street corners, in parking lots or at any outdoor location, public or private, including cars. Violators could face arrest. First used in Los Angeles 20 years ago, gang injunctions have spread to 30 states. The plan is to ask civil court judges to issue injunctions that would make it illegal for gang members and their associates not only to gather in the open but to wear gang colors or flash gang signs within specified areas.

† 09-14-07 : CALIFORNIA - BATTLE AGAINST GANGS GOES HIGH-TECH : Ever-changing technology has become a standard tool for gangs, but California law enforcement officers said Thursday they're determined to stay one step ahead. About 250 law enforcement and other officials met at Sherwood Hall in Salinas for the Monterey County Gang Task Force's second workshop, which offers two days of formal training in curbing gang violence. "The gangs' criminal element is sophisticated, and they're getting more sophisticated with new technology every day," said Gang Task Force Cmdr. Dino Bardoni. "We need to be equally as educated."

† 09-04-07 : CALIFORNIA - FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY NAMED AS CALIFORNIA'S NEW GANG CZAR : Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has named Paul Seave, a former U.S. Attorney in Sacramento, as the state's new anti-gang czar. Seave, whose appointment was announced Tuesday, will lead a new program to coordinate local anti-gang efforts throughout California. Seave, the U.S. Attorney in Sacramento from 1997 to 2001, was named director of gang and youth violence policy as part of the governor's California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Program (CalGRIP).

† 08-28-07 : MILWAUKEE - CITY OFFICIALS WANT TO CLOSE GANG HOUSE : Milwaukee County officials have filed a public nuisance action against the owner of a criminal gang house. The lawsuit was filed by members of the Community Prosecution Unit of the City Attorney’s Office. The civil suit alleges that the Milwaukee Police Department has identified two rival criminal gangs, the Asian Crips and M.O.D. (“Method of Destruction”) as the source of violent acts against each other. On Aug. 4, 2007, about four hours after a drive-by shooting at Brown Deer Park where a M.O.D. gang member was wounded, three people were shot in a garage at 10031 West Juniper Street while attending a beer and card party involving individuals alleged to be current or former Asian Crip members.

† 08-25-07 : CALIFORNIA - INJUNCTION CONFRONTS RIVERSIDE GANG VIOLENCE : The Riverside County district attorney and Riverside police chief stood in the heart of East Side Riva territory Friday and laid out a new legal strategy to cripple the county's largest and most violent street gang. More than 100 members of the gang will no longer be free to congregate on street corners, wear gang colors or carry weapons in a zone on the city's east side under a court order filed Wednesday by Riverside County prosecutors and the Riverside Police Department. The civil injunction against East Side Riva is a tactic borrowed from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.

† 08-07-07 : NO CAROLINA - GENERAL ASSEMBLY STALLS STREET GANG PREVENTION [LAW] : HB 274 - At the insistence of community organizations like the Triangle Lost Generation Task Force, provided $4.7 million to fund prevention programs in order to keep young people from joining gangs to begin with. An amended version of Michaux’s bill passed the House Tuesday 107-9, and was immediately sent to the Senate’s Appropriations and Base Budget Committee. SB 1358, sponsored by Sen. Malcolm Graham [D-Mecklenburg], and cosponsored by several black state lawmakers including Sen. Vernon Malone (D-Wake), Sen. Larry Shaw (D- Cumberland), and Sen. Charlie Dannelly, is currently in the Senate’s Appropriations and Base Budget Committee, and is similar to its House counterpart.

† 07-24-07 : WASH D.C. - HOUSE BILL TAKE AIM AT DRUG KINGPINS : CONGRESS - Rep. Adrian Smith wants Congress to enact a Methamphetamine Kingpin Elimination Act. The bill would increase penalties for drug kingpin offenses and authorize an additional $20 million for multi-jurisdictional methamphetamine task forces. The introduction of the bill comes after the July 23 arrest of alleged methamphetamine trafficker Zhenli Ye Gon in Wheaton, Md. Police had raided Gon's Mexico City mansion in March, and found more than $207 million, most of it stashed behind false walls and in closets.

† 07-21-07 : NEW YORK - CONGRESS TAKING WRONG APPROACH WITH GANGS : WASH D.C. - No city has failed to control its street gangs more spectacularly than Los Angeles. The region has six times as many gangs and double the number of gang members as a quarter-century ago, even after spending countless billions on the problem. But unless Congress changes course quickly, the policies that seem to have made the gang problem worse in Los Angeles could become enshrined as national doctrine in a so-called gang control bill making its way through both the House and Senate.

† 07-18-07 : CALIFORNIA - REPORT SAYS FOCUS ON INTERVENTION, NOT IMPRISONMENT : L.A. - Anti-gang legislation and police crackdowns are failing so badly that they are strengthening the criminal organizations and making U.S. cities more dangerous, according to a report being released Wednesday. Mass arrests, stiff prison sentences often served with other gang members and other strategies that focus on law enforcement rather than intervention actually strengthen gang ties and further marginalize angry young men, according to the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank that advocates alternatives to incarceration.

† 07-15-07 : CALIFORNIA - NEW LAW ENABLES LOCAL PROSECUTORS tO SUE GANGS : L.A. - Beginning next year, gang-infested neighborhoods could be enriched by the criminals who plague them. California will become the only state in the nation on Jan. 1 with a law that allows local prosecutors to go after the assets of gangs by suing the criminal organizations and their members in court. Michael Dundas, legislative director for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, which sponsored the law, explained the concept. "The gang is causing an injury to the neighborhood, and we are filing a civil action to bring damages," he said. "Any money we receive has to go back to the neighborhood."

† 07-12-07 : CALIFORNIA - HERRERA ID'S 76 GANG MEMBERS FOR INJUNCTION : SAN FRAN - In concurrent proceedings in San Francisco Superior Court this morning, City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office presented legal pleadings and thousands of pages of evidence supporting his efforts to secure civil injunctions against criminal street gangs that have long terrorized residents in two of San Francisco's most violence-prone neighborhoods.

† 06-23-07 : CALIFORNIA - NEW IDEAS ON GANG PREVENTION : SALINAS - Mayor Dennis Donohue took steps to put gang-prevention programs higher on state and national agendas during a two-day gathering of the California Gang Prevention Network in San Jose. Donohue and other Salinas "stakeholders" spent Thursday and Friday sharing gang-prevention strategies, where leaders from 13 California cities pushed the prevention philosophy to senior aides for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, all of whom are promoting tough new anti-gang bills.

† 06-21-07 : SAN FRAN - CITY ATTORNEY GOING AFTER GANGS : San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera will file suit today against alleged gangs in the Mission District and the Western Addition, seeking to impose curfews and limit members' right to gather in public areas, law enforcement sources said. Herrera obtained his first such civil injunction last year against an alleged gang in Bayview-Hunters Point, barring nearly two dozen men from going out after midnight or hanging out together in a four-block area, among other restrictions.

† 06-20-07 : LOS ANGELES - ANTI-GANG CZAR FOR L.A. IS CHOSEN : An ordained minister who has spent much of his career developing social service and youth programs in some of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods will be named today as the city's new gang czar, officials said. Jeff Carr, chief operating officer for Sojourners/Call to Renewal, a liberal evangelical group based in Washington, D.C., will work directly for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as director of gang reduction and youth development programs.

† 06-15-07 : WASH D.C. - GANG ABATEMENT AND PREVENTION : SAN BERNARDINO - The following is a summary of the Gang Abatement and Prevention Act legislation approved Thursday (6/14/07) by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee: Authorizes Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for Gang Prevention and Intervention - This bill authorizes at least $411.5 million in funding over five years for gang prevention and intervention efforts. These funds include $187.5 million (half) of the money that will go into new High Intensity Gang Activity Areas (HIGAAs) that the bill creates, a new $175 million program for gang protection block grants, and $49 million in two new provisions providing expanded or new authorized funding for mentoring and after-school programs.

† 06-12-07 : SO CAROLINA - NEW LAW AIMED AT CURBING GANG ACTIVITY : COLUMBIA - The gangs start recruiting in elementary school. During brief, brutal initiation rituals, boys looking to join up are stomped and punched for 30 seconds. Experts say girls who want in get cut with knives or razors, or have sex with male gang members. With at least 340 gangs in South Carolina, students sporting gang colors in schools and gang-related arrests on the rise, officials and anti-gang activists on Tuesday applauded a new slate of measures aimed at prosecuting gang members and curbing their ability to recruit new blood.

† 06-12-07 : CALIFORNIA - PREVENTION BEST WAY TO FIGHT GANGS : GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger has stepped forward with a rather ambitious $48.1 million statewide effort to crack down on gang violence, something he said is unprecedented in California history. There is a side of prevention, too. Schwarzenegger is allocating $7 million to boost anti-gang programs for local governments, redirecting $2.8 million in uncommitted funds to expand job training for gang members, offering incentives for companies hiring former gang members, and putting former gang members into 34 full-time AmeriCorps posts to mentor others as they leave gang life.

† 06-12-07 : CALIFORNIA - INJUCTION WOULD BAN GANG ACTIVITIES : The Riverside County district attorney's office is drafting its first-ever civil injunction against more than 100 members of a street gang. The injunction will prohibit members from certain activities or behaviors in public spaces within a roughly 3-square-mile section of western Riverside County they claim as their turf. For instance, they will not be allowed to associate with other members of that gang; they will not be able to wear certain clothes specific to that gang; and they will not be allowed to possess weapons or graffiti tools. They will also have to adhere to a curfew.

† 06-08-07 : GEORGIA - 3 TEEN GIRLS FIRST ARRESTED UNDER NEW GANG LAW : LAWRENCEVILLE - Three teenage girls recently became the first people arrested and charged with violating Lawrenceville's new street gang terrorism and prevention ordinance. The suspects, Asia Jemila Watson, 19, Virgilia Carlyle Gladney, 18 and Marquita Shaholony Gladney, 17, will have a preliminary hearing in Lawrenceville Municipal Court July 18, said the case's investigating officer, Sgt. Brad Groves of the Lawrenceville Police Department.

† 06-06-07 : WASH D.C. - TOUGH SENATE GANG BILL'S BACK : Lacy Marie Ferguson still had a future when Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein first introduced an ambitious anti-gang bill. That was a decade ago. Now Ferguson is dead, the victim of a 2003 Modesto gang shooting. On Tuesday, her mother told lawmakers it's past time to approve Feinstein's still-unfinished gang-fighting legislation. "It means a lot to me and to numerous families that have the same sad life we do," Boni Gayle Driskill told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The gangs are not only existing, they are proliferating; they are spreading."

† 06-04-07 : WASH D.C. - U.S. CRIME RATES UP FOR 2ND YEAR : Crime rates rose in the U.S. in 2006, especially robberies, which increased 6 percent, according to FBI data released Monday. It's the second year in a row that crime rates have increased, with some blaming the rise on the spread of gangs and others saying it's due to a decrease in available federal aid.

† 06-04-07 : SANTA ANA - ORANGE COUNTY LEADER IN TEEN-ADULT LAW : (AP) Prosecutors in Orange County have used a voter-approved law allowing juveniles to be tried in adult court more than any other county in California, according to a newspaper report published Sunday. Since 2000, the law has been used on more than 261 youths, the Orange County Register said.

† 06-04-07 : LOS ANGELES - CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC SAFETY APPROVES $50,000 GANG REWARD : (CNS) The City Council's Public Safety Committee approved paying a $50,000 reward to the person who anonymously reported the whereabouts of Kody DeJohn Scott, designated one of the LAPD's 10 ''Most Wanted'' gang members. Scott, also known by the gang moniker ''Monster,'' was arrested March 7 on suspicion of burglary, despite his claims that he had rejected his life in a South Los Angeles gang and converted to Islam.

† 06-01-07 : VICTORVILLE - "ESV" GANG ORDERED TO LEAVE FOREVER : All it took was a sheaf of papers to send some of the most notorious gangbangers in the High Desert packing. A permanent - read, forever - gang injunction is now in place for East Side Victoria, a 115-member Latino gang that has been rooted in Victorville for 25 years.

† 05-28-07 : TOKYO : JAPAN - YAKUZA TO BE KEP FROM PUBLIC HOUSING : Following a recent stand-off with an armed gangster in Tokyo's Machida, the National Police Agency (NPA) is taking steps to prevent yakuza from living in public housing. Sources said the agency will instruct prefectural police headquarters around Japan in early June to cooperate with local governments conducting checks on current or prospective residents they believe could be linked with organized crime.

† 05-25-07 : SACRAMENTO - GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES INITIATIVE TO COMBAT GANG VIOLENCE : The California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Program (CalGRIP) will target more than $48 million in state and federal funding toward local anti-gang efforts, including job training, education and intervention programs, and will give law enforcement the tools to closely track gang leaders both inside state prisons and when they are released on parole.

† 05-11-07 : SACRAMENTO - ASSEMBLY OK'S GANG RECRUITER BILL : It would punish those who draw minors into criminal groups. Recruiters who lure children into gangs could end up in jail under the terms of a bill that passed the Assembly on Thursday. Lawmakers voted 61-1 to approve Assembly Bill 1033 by Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, that would make it a misdemeanor to encourage or threaten anyone younger than 18 years into joining a criminal street gang.

† 04-25-07 : SACRAMENTO - GANG OFFENDERS PASSES PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : Senator Runner’s and Senator Dutton’s Legislation Will Help with Gang Suppression Efforts. Senator George Runner’s (R-Antelope Valley) and Senator Bob Dutton’s (R-Rancho Cucamonga) legislation to increase the use of GPS monitoring of juvenile gang offenders passed Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.

† 03-29-07 : SACRAMENTO - GOVERNOR HOLDS GANG SUMMIT : Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger convened a summit meeting Thursday at the Capitol with about 30 mayors and police chiefs from cities plagued by gang violence throughout the state, including Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and L.A. Police Chief William Bratton.

† 03-07-07 : BAKERSFIELD - TOUGHER LAWS TARGET GANG ACTIVITY : Think twice -- That's the message Supervising Deputy District Attorney Michael J. Vendrasco is sharing with anyone who's thinking of joining a gang or even trying to help a gang member. Statutes regarding gang members have boosted penalties in California to the point where any gang member arrested for committing serious, violent crimes could face life in prison. The laws were implemented within the past five years.

† 08-27-05 : On this date Gang Watchers drafted (below) a new legislative proposal for Senator Chuck Poochigian to carry in coming year, 2006. Our hope is it will become law and many Californian's will safer and gangs members will be spotted in unauthorized areas by neighborhood watch programs and concerned families. To let Senator Chuck Poochigian know how you feel, sign the petition today and then tell a friend.

† 11-7-05 : GANG WATCHERS 3 BUSTS AND IT'S ON PETITION - On August 27th 2005 Gang Watchers drafted a new "3 Busts" law targeting Gangs. This new law will give our neighborhood watch programs a new tool that they can use and parents a way to see if their children are in fact hanging around convicted gang bangers.