The injunction designates a 1.59-square-mile area in Anaheim as a "safety zone." Prosecutors say gang members who violate the injunction will be arrested and face prosecution as a misdemeanor for disobeying a court order and the defendant will be placed on gang probation terms or be sent to jail for up to six months.
Prosecutors say the injunction is a civil order that restricts or prohibits documented gang members from participating in specific acts or activities within a designated area, or safety zone, that may not be inherently criminal. The terms are designed to curb intimidating or harassing behavior.
Police say crime is down in areas covered by the county's seven other gang injunctions, but civil rights activists say the court orders give police too much latitude.
In Orange County there are currently seven other permanent gang injunctions in the cities of Santa Ana, Anaheim, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Orange and Garden Grove.
