Politicians Claim Credit for Criminal Justice Reform: Activists Did the Real Work
Civil rights attorney Geneviéve Jones-Wright on Tuesday blasted San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan, City Attorney Mara Elliott, and Mayor Todd Gloria for doing exactly what community groups have been asking authorities in San Diego to do for years: getting rid of civil restraining orders aimed at persons thought by law enforcement to be involved in gangs.
The problem here is that politicians made statements to the media claiming credit for the action after blocking it for years.
“The erasure of contributions of community members who have been working on this issue for years now - with great resistance from law enforcement and the very elected officials who are taking credit for this reform - is a slap in the face,” said Geneviéve Jones-Wright.
Jones-Wright has served as a Commissioner on the City's Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention for years. In her capacity as chair of the Gang Documentation Committee, she and other commissioners have been meeting bi-monthly with officials since 2017, attempting to get them to respond to a recommendation that all gang injunctions be eliminated.
The committee came to this conclusion following several years of gathering documentation and conducting interviews. Persons sometimes incorrectly designated by law enforcement officers as gang members were targeted for frequent street interrogations, had trouble gaining employment, and were even denied housing opportunities. Until recently, coming under the auspices of the court ordered restrictions was a lifetime sentence for those targeted. An opaque appeal process existed, but was difficult to navigate without the assistance of counsel.
Gang Commissioner D’Andre Brooks added, "Once again, the work of our ad hoc committee has been stolen & used by the same individuals who fought tooth & nail against it. These types of back door politics are the number one reason why communities of color have little to no faith in our local government and beyond.”
While San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has only been in office for four months, his statement to the media neglected to acknowledge the work of activists and volunteers, even though they had met with his staff just two weeks ago. He announced support for an end to gang injunctions as part of a list of proposed police reforms he announced April 9.
“Gang injunctions are outdated and do not serve their alleged purpose of protecting public safety. It is the right thing to do and gives hundreds of San Diegans an opportunity to live without the fear a stale accusation could hurt their chances for good paying jobs, education and housing,” the mayor said.
The real bummer about all this is that law enforcement officials have quietly recognized for several years that gang injunctions were increasingly ineffective. Over the past couple of years, some injunctions have been lifted, but the concept of ending them all was apparently a step too far.
The fact that they pushed back against a long overdue reform gives credence to the existence of a fundamental level of racism in local agencies. Most, if not all, those targeted by these court orders were people of color.
And, as Councilmember Montgomery-Steppe pointing out in a statement quoted by Voice of San Diego (which also overlooked Jones-Wright's efforts):
...City Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe noted that similar injunctions do not exist for white supremacists and hate groups. “Eliminating gang injunctions is a necessary step on the long road to reimagining public safety and equity in law enforcement,” she said.
From the Union-Tribune coverage:
Some police officials said gang injunctions are no longer a valuable tool to confront gang crime. In Escondido, police Lt. Kevin Toth said most gang members listed in the city’s injunctions are in their late 20s or 30s and no longer active in gangs. He added that many are serving long sentences in prison.
“The rest have grown out of the gang life,” the lieutenant said...
...Oceanside police officers were in a similar situation: they made two injunction-related arrests in 2018, two in 2019 and one last year, according to a department-wide memo Chief Fred Armijo issued Tuesday.
Attorney Jones-Wright brought out the "receipts" as she castigated local officials, including this 2019 summary of the Gang Commission's work:
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Lead image credit: Copwatch | 2017 Gang Unit Traffic Stop