Anti-Gang Injunction Sought by Galanter

Responding to the recent rash of shootings in Venice and Mar Vista, City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter announced Wednesday that she has asked the city attorney to seek an injunction against local gangs similar to the one approved last month against members of the 18th Street gang.

Galanter called the string of violence, which has left four people dead, “completely unacceptable.” She lauded the anti-crime efforts of the 20 community residents and police officers who attended her news conference at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Pacific Division headquarters.

“This is the kind of group it takes to change a community from one that lives in fear to one that can live happily ever after,” she said.

Galanter said it could take months, however, for police to provide enough information for the city attorney to issue such an injunction. The 18th Street gang injunction prevents known members of that gang from gathering in public places and engaging in other activities.

She added that she had spoken Wednesday morning with chief-designate Bernard C. Parks about getting additional resources for Pacific Division police.

There have been 19 shooting incidents in Venice and Mar Vista since June.

“We believe most of the violent activity is probably from the one gang, which is the Culver City Boys, so that’s probably who we would go after” with a possible injunction, said Cmdr. David Doan of the Pacific Division.

The Culver City Boys are based in Mar Vista, Doan said. Other gangs in the Venice area are the Shoreline Crips and V13.

Not all the recent violence has been gang-related, police say. And a fragile cease-fire between some of the gangs is holding, Doan said.

Lorenzo Merritt, executive director of Project Heavy West, a youth services and gang outreach organization in the area, said his group has been actively trying to bring gang members face to face to prevent further shootings.

“What we want to do is move from a cease-fire to a truce,” Merritt said. “Whatever happened recently is such a harsh conflict that getting them to the table is a bit difficult.”

Merritt said he supported Galanter’s call for an injunction--”anything right now that will save lives in the community and stop people from being afraid,” he said.

The Rev. Robert Shipp of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Venice said that he too has been trying to broker a truce among local gangs and expects a breakthrough in the next week.

Of the injunction, Shipp said, “It’s not going to solve the problem as far as getting rid of gang activities.” What the young people of the area need is jobs, Shipp said.