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Gang busters

11:32 PM PST on Tuesday, December 20, 2005

I HOPE THIS ISNT A DUPLICATE.

Freedom of assembly does not imply the freedom to assemble to commit crimes. That is the principle behind a series of injunctions directed at seven of San Bernardino's worst gang-plagued neighborhoods.

A rash of gang-related killings, including the November slaying of an 11-year-old girl in a gang hit at her mother's Citrus Street apartment, shows the need for stronger anti-gang measures by the city.

The San Bernardino Police Department is seeking the injunctions against known gang members. The orders boost penalties for misdemeanors such as drinking in public and drug possession and, more controversially, forbid them from publicly gathering with other gang members and flashing hand symbols.

Any gang member named in an injunction caught violating its terms faces six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Officials expect the injunctions to take effect early next year.

Injunctions long have proved effective in San Bernardino and other cities, although police characterize such court orders as "just another tool in the toolbox." Job-training, after-school and early intervention programs are all essential to the anti-gang fight. But law enforcement as direct crime prevention -- sweeps, intelligence gathering, more police officers, better beat work -- necessarily takes precedence.

A 2003 UCLA study found that injunctions in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Long Beach helped cut violent crime by an average of 5 percent to 10 percent after one year. And an injunction against the notorious 18th Street gang in Hollywood resulted in a nearly 50 percent drop in crime in the first four months after the order took effect in November 2003.

True, these injunctions cost known gang members some First Amendment rights. But the constitutionally guaranteed right to assemble does not include the right to assemble for criminal purposes, any more than freedom of speech includes the right to spray paint a gang tag on a wall.

Meantime, San Bernardino residents have a right to live free from gang killing and intimidation. They deserve a respite from the violence that has riddled parts of their city