EDITORIAL

Costa Mesa leaders Monday took a step in the right direction to help

aid the city’s police officers when they tentatively approved a law that

evicts tenants convicted of drug- or gang-related crimes.

The criminal eviction law, when it becomes official as early as April,

will require landlords to evict tenants convicted of such crimes.

When first proposed in May, the law would have evicted tenants who

have been arrested on suspicion of such crimes, which places guilt on

someone before his or her fate is given to a court or jury.

We support the new law and are glad city officials reworked it to

allow those arrested their due process.

Officials based the tentatively adopted law on a Buena Park law that

has been enforced 150 times -- only gang-related. And that should also be

expected in Costa Mesa. After all, as it has been pointed out, most

gang-related activities don’t occur at home, but drug-related crimes do.

But what the new law can do is prevent and combat crime while holding

landlords more accountable for their tenants, said Costa Mesa Police Lt.

Tom Curtis. Of Costa Mesa’s 63 drug-related cases in 2000, about 10

offenders would be evicted under this new law, he said.

One resident pointed out that a criminal is still due an appeal after

a conviction and, while we cannot argue that, the eviction will provide

the convicted’s fellow tenants a greater and much deserved peace of mind.

What we really anticipate, however, is the test of time. The city will

obviously monitor this law’s progress once it goes into effect, and we

will eagerly await the results to determine whether the law’s worth

keeping.

Until then, we hope it can at least help the police in deterring some

crime and help some residents feel safer.