Is the proposed gang injunction in Orange “racial profiling?”

(Picture Courtesy of the O.C. Register)

[poll id=”127″]

“Orange residents gathered Saturday afternoon to protest a gang injunction being sought by Orange police.  About 50 protesters met at Killefer Park on North Lemon Street before marching through Old Towne and around the traffic circle,” according to the O.C. Register.

“They seem to be using racial profiling to determine who’s a gang member,” said Anaheim resident Joseph Gallardo, a member of civil rights group Chicanos Unidos. He said the protest aims to raise awareness. Laws are already put in place to stop gangs, he said, so the injunction is not needed.

I think what folks are missing here is that there are many decent families who have been affected by gangs.  So you might have one gang member in a family that is otherwise law-abiding.  Moreover, gangs have been around for decades in Orange County.  These ties run deep.  And gang members on parole ought to be given a chance to change their ways.

That said, folks are angry about the surge in gang violence in central Orange County and action is demanded.  Injunctions are not perfect but they mollify residents who want to see something, anything, done.

So are injunctions racial profiling?  Be sure to vote in our instant poll, below the picture on top of this story.

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"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.