The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU SoCal) [advocacy website], along with the Urban Peace Institute [advocacy site] and Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP [firm website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] on Thursday alleging gang injunctions conducted by the Los Angeles officials violate due process rights of community members. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California [official website], alleges that city officials serve individuals with gang injunction orders that prohibit legal behaviors, such as drinking in a restaurant, under the guise of being a nuisance. Violations of the injunctions could lead to fines and incarceration. Plaintiffs claim the gang injunctions allow for probation style conditions without a hearing. According to the complaint:

This action concerns the unconstitutional enforcement of restrictive “gang injunctions” by the City of Los Angeles … against thousands of Los Angeles residents—most of them men of color—based on a unilateral and behind-closed-doors determination by police and city attorneys that they are active participants in a street gang. Without any prior notice or opportunity to contest the allegations of gang membership, the City serves such individuals with these injunctions that subject them to arrest for such ordinary activities as appearing in public with friends and family, working alongside other members of the neighborhood, or wearing the clothes they choose. So-called “gang injunctions” are court orders prohibiting a variety of conduct that police and prosecutors argue constitutes a nuisance.

Plaintiffs are seeking declarative and injunctive relief against defendants, the City of Los Angeles, City Attorney Mike Feuer, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and other city officials.

Police interaction with communities continues as a growing domestic issue. The ACLU, along with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 50 other interest groups, sent a letter [JURIST report] last week urging the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the increasing use of facial recognition technology by police departments. The DOJ released a statement [JURIST report ] earlier this month outlining plans to collect data on the use of force by police officers from across the nation. Also this month the DOJ released a report [JURIST report] on racial bias committed by the San Francisco Police Department in traffic stops, searches and killings.