Summary

An injunction against the Townsend Street gang in Santa Ana is unlikely to bring significant and lasting reduction of serious crime, according to a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) that examined evidence on the outcomes of other gang injunctions and gathered input from residents, city officials, community organizations and police. On the contrary, the study found, the injunction could have negative effects on public safety, public health and public trust.

The injunction – filed in June 2014 by the Orange County District Attorney’s office and made permanent In January 2015 by a County Superior Court judge – sought to prohibit 29 alleged gang members from associating with each other and engaging in various criminal and non-criminal activities within a defined “safety zone.” The gang injunction is currently under litigation. This is the 13th gang injunction in Orange County, and the second in Santa Ana, with the first in place since 2006 against the nearby Santa Nita gang. Since the late 1980’s, more than 60 gang injunctions have been imposed in California.

Gang injunctions are a politically charged issue, and focus groups and interviews show that opinions in the community are divided. Some believe the Townsend Street injunction will decrease gang activity and crime, while others fear it will increase racial profiling and police misconduct – particularly toward Latinos, who make up more than 90 percent of the safety zone’s 6,000 to 8,000 residents. As part of the Dignified and Just Policing Initiative, a diverse range of community groups collaborated and consulted with HIP to evaluate the injunction’s potential impact on the health and well-being of the alleged gang members, their families and the community at large, as well as on public safety.

‍

Vulnerable groups

Instead of feeling safe, it makes you feel more unsafe when you see a police car, because you don’t know what to expect or what might happen when they stop you… it makes you want to hide, and that makes it so that instead of the police helping you if you have a problem, they come and interrogate you and ask what you’re doing on the streets.

– Santa Ana resident

This HIA focuses on populations that may be disproportionately affected by the Townsend Street gang injunction. Particularly vulnerable are youth, undocumented immigrants, transgender or queer-identified people, the homeless, and those with physical and mental disabilities. Members of these groups fear that increased police presence in the neighborhood will exacerbate the potential for profiling and discrimination.

‍

Findings

• The evidence is insufficient that a gang injunction will reduce violent crime, gang activity or gang membership, or that it will improve community-police relationships.
• An injunction could make some in the community, particularly parents, feel more safe, but members of marginalized groups may, in contrast, feel more threatened by increased police presence.
• An injunction could lead to significant disruptions to education and employment opportunities for those named in the gang injunction, with immediate harm to their health and well-being and long-term harm to their chances in life.
• Young black and Latino men who experience repeated, unsubstantiated searches and other forms of suppression-based policing may experience higher levels of anxiety and depression than their peers.
• An injunction could divert funding from community programs that address the economic and social problems that are the root causes of much crime and a detriment to public health and well-being. In contrast to the mixed evidence on the effects of policing strategies – whether suppression-based or community-oriented – on crime, there is solid evidence that correlates reductions in crime with environmental, educational and economic factors.

Recommendations

For Law Enforcement

• Work with community members to establish and uphold code of conduct to guide ethical and professional behavior by law enforcement officers.
• Provide trainings to officers on effectively interacting with all community members.
• Strengthen communication and transparency with the public.
• Create an independent, community-based accountability and oversight committee to track police performance and service excellence.
• Partner with trusted community organizations to prevent crime and address community needs.
• Prioritize hiring a diverse team of officers with ties to the community they serve.
• Provide social, emotional and mental health support services for officers.

For City Officials

• In allocating resources, prioritize prevention-focused community services, especially for youth.
• Coordinate community development services in collaboration with community organizations.
• Investigate lead levels in older housing stock and encourage renovation in construction that exceeds safe levels of lead in paint, dust and soil.

Community-wide

• Implement trauma-informed crisis response by moving away from a law enforcement-centered approach to one that recognizes the potential harm to all involved in a criminal or violent incident.
• Further expand and promote the application of the principles of Restorative Justice, which emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behavior, in all efforts to support public health and safety.

‍

As we continue our work toward a transformative vision of health equity and racial justice, we also continue to shift and evolve our own frameworks, language, and vision — especially with respect to our Health Instead of Punishment work. Because we know that to transform public health, we must be in a continuous process of transformation ourselves. Part of that process means reflecting on past work, and acknowledging shifts in our learning and language. This resource is representative of an earlier stage in our journey. The research, data, and learnings here hold strong, but the report may include past frameworks, specifically regarding racial justice and the criminal legal system.