On Monday, Criminal Court Division I Judge Barry Steelman was scheduled to hear a petition that would prohibit 31 gang members from partaking in a number of activities with other known gang members within a roughly two-mile “safety zone” in Chattanooga.
The 31-page petition, filed by Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston, calls for a court to officially label the Gangster Disciples and the Grape Street Crips as public nuisances in the East Lake Courts neighborhood.
If a court accepts the request, officers will have wide latitude to stop 31 listed gang members in that region from participating in 11 listed activities, most of which are already illegal, Pinkston said at a news conference outside the Boys and Girls Club at Fourth Avenue and 25th Street last week.
That means drinking beer, owning graffiti equipment, carrying guns and drugs, signaling the arrival of a police officer, and intimidating, confronting, annoying, harassing, threatening, challenging, assaulting, battering, provoking or associating with another known gang member in public areas could all be off the table – and violations mean a possible 30-day jail sentence and $50 fine.
“This isn’t about us,” Pinkston said, motioning to the numerous law enforcement officers who helped conceive the petition, as well as Ruthie Wright, an East Lake resident who said she continues to walk her 17-year-old granddaughter to the bus stop every morning out of fear of her being shot.
“It’s about the people of East Lake,” Pinkston said. “It’s a tool for law enforcement.”
The American Civil Liberties Union says the idea is reminiscent of a controversial strategy called “broken windows policing.”
At the hearing, Pinkston presented proof for his petition, and the 31 listed men had the opportunity to defend themselves or ask to “opt out” of the petition altogether. To dismiss themselves, though, gang members must file proper notice, declare in a written statement they’re reformed men, and prove they haven’t been arrested in the past two years.
Records show at least 13 of the 31 listed men have pending charges in Hamilton County.
To validate someone as a gang member, officers use a series of factors such as tattoos, articles of clothing, social media, and confessions. They only need 10 points to make the ID. And anything less makes someone an associate.
Pinkston and Chattanooga police Chief Fred Fletcher stressed at last week’s press conference that backers of the petition want to target validated gang members – not associates, nor budding 13-year-olds who post pictures on Facebook.
Tom Castelli, legal director of the ACLU in Tennessee, said he read the petition and had a few concerns.
“In this initial part, they’ve got to serve the individuals they think are going to be under this order and let them come into court and prove they’re in a gang before they start enforcing it on them at all,” Castelli said.
Castelli said he studied other injunctions, which gained popularity in California in the 1980s, where police officers walked up to targeted people with the court order, told them they’re part of it, then drove around the block only to return a few minutes later and arrest them for standing next to another gang member.
“That can’t work,” Castelli said. “They have to hand him a petition. He has to have his own day in court before he’s added to the order. That’s how it’s supposed to work. But the petition is very silent on that.”
And the petition is reminiscent, he said, of broken windows policing, where authorities have more power to arrest people for smaller crimes. Especially if broadly written sections become enforceable, or if otherwise legal activities, such as drinking alcohol, become illegal for gang members to be around, he added.
“Why not create an economic zone, an educational zone, an entrepreneur’s zone?” asked Kevin Muhammad, the student representative of the Nation of Islam in Chattanooga and a criticizer of the plan. “Why not take our young brothers who are involved in a negative lifestyle, many of whom do not have fathers in their homes, are not properly educated and do not have the economic opportunities to get out of their current situations – why not try to help them? Why use the law against them rather than use the law to help them?”
To find out Steelman’s ruling on the petition, check next week’s Metro Community News.
Email Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com.