Gang injunction cutting drug crime, Oakland says

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Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(02-14) 17:54 PST OAKLAND -- As lawyers prepared for a pivotal hearing on a proposed gang injunction in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood, the city attorney and police chief said Monday that an existing injunction in the northern part of the city was delivering results.

A judge approved the North Oakland injunction in June, barring 15 men from hanging out with other alleged gang members in a 100-block "safety zone" and slapping them with a 10 p.m. curfew there.

In a report to the City Council, City Attorney John Russo and Police Chief Anthony Batts said drug arrests were down nearly 70 percent in the safety zone in the first six months of the injunction from the same time a year earlier. Just one of the men has been arrested in the zone, the officials said.

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