Changes may get gang bill approved

This editorial appears in the Feb. 8, 2012, Yakima Herald-Republic.

We're not cheering just yet, but we are hopeful that the Legislature has seen the light about the scourge of gang violence in our Valley and state -- and will figure out a way to fight it. In past years, anti-gang bills have come close but eventually have come up short amid concerns about the rights of the accused, racial profiling and a sense that gang violence is a localized problem.

Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches, this year addressed some of those concerns in House Bill 2594. One sticking point in past proposals has been whether to allow police and prosecutors to seek civil injunctions -- essentially court orders that would ban gang members from certain neighborhoods or from associating with certain people. HB2594 would allow courts to appoint an attorney for suspected gang members who want to contest a civil injunction. The bill would put the burden of proof on local authorities to define and notify alleged gang members affected by the injunction.

That provision has helped it win 19 Democratic co-sponsors. Ross says the civil injunction provision would allow the state's law-enforcement agencies to coordinate anti-gang efforts statewide. The bill last week sailed through the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee on a 9-1 vote.

Buttressing this effort is HB2432, which would allot as much as $6 million for gang prevention and intervention grant programs; and HB2535, which would authorize counties to create juvenile gang courts like that in Yakima County.

Gang bills in past sessions have won House approval, only to founder in the Senate. The civil-injunction element proved a major sticking point last year, and past opponents need to note this year's changes. Western Washington also has endured highly publicized incidents of gang violence in the past year, especially in south King County. And a recent story in the Yakima Herald-Republic detailed the role gangs play in child-sex trafficking in this state.

Proponents of anti-gang legislation have listened to critics and accordingly adjusted the measure. This is a statewide problem that requires a statewide solution, and these anti-gang measures will go a long way toward arriving at that elusive solution.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Sharon J. Prill, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.