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The Ogden Police Department is taking a new approach to dealing with an area gang: declaring members a public nuisance.
A 200-page court injunction bans the 485-plus members of Ogden Trece from associating with each other, possessing guns and being in the vicinity of illegal drugs. It also sets an 11 p.m. curfew.
The injunction was filed Aug. 20 in 2nd District Court and has been preliminarily approved. Prosecutors will seek permanent approval at a court hearing Tuesday.
It's a technique Police Chief Jon Greiner picked up from California law enforcement dealing with gangs throughout the Los Angeles area.
"We are going to try this approach and see if it may push them out to another community," Greiner said.
If two or more members of Ogden Trece are seen in a public place in Ogden and refuse to leave, they can be charged with a class B misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of up to six months in jail.
"If a group of Treces are hanging out in the mall and intimidating people, it is now a criminal offense," Greiner said.
Weber County Attorney Dee Smith says the injunction will give law enforcement the ability to keep the gang members from congregating and intimidating residents.
The Ogden Police Department has created a gang member database, and Greiner says the federal government created rigorous guidelines for identifying gang members during the 1990s.
Ralph Dellapiana, a public defender with the Salt Lake Legal Defenders, said police in the past have put nongang relatives of gang members into their gang databases, and it's very difficult to be taken off such a registry. Being tagged as a gang member can have serious consequences, such as not being eligible for drug court or possibly enhancing penalties of other crimes committed.
"There are too many people on the registry," Dellapiana said.
Utah ACLU Legal Director Darcy Goddard says her group is aware of the injunction but has not been asked to intervene.
One attorney, Michael Boyle, who represents members of Ogden Trece, has contacted the Weber County Attorney's Office, but Greiner did not know Boyle's specific concerns.
Calls to Boyle were not immediately returned Saturday.
As a senator in the Utah Legislature, Greiner crafted a 2009 bill that makes it a crime if gang members are loitering in an area deemed a no-gang zone. The injunction targets only the Ogden Trece and names the entire 27 square miles of the city as a no-gang zone for its members.
Greiner said his city does not struggle with gangs any more than other communities, but his force has had to deal with members of Ogden Trece for years.
"It's the constant dealing with this one gang, that's what it boils down to," he said, adding that if this approach works, he'd like to expand it to other gangs present in the city.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.