Anti-gang efforts planned for Wyandanch

An anti-gang initiative being launched Tuesday in Wyandanch would initially target 37 admitted gang members and keep them from intimidating people, flashing gang signs or even standing and talking on a 2-mile stretch of Straight Path running through the heart of town.

"We're asking a judge to provide the power to the police to break up the congregating of two or more known gang members," Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said. "The police will have this extra tool in hand to disburse the gangs before trouble ensues."

Levy and Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer say they will ask a State Supreme Court justice to issue a preliminary injunction against the 37 members of the Wyandanch Bloods and the Braveheart Bloods who have each admitted to police they are in the gangs.

The injunction would keep them from associating with each other, and violating it would subject gang members to a contempt of court charge.

Suffolk officials made a similar proposal to create a "safe zone" along Straight Path in October 2010 but it never got beyond the planning stage. There have been a number of gang-related incidents in Wyandanch, leading to the crackdown.

Communities in California and Texas have used similar injunctions since the 1980s.

Amol Sinha, director of the Suffolk chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the county could seek to ban gang members from intimidating people or engaging in threatening behavior, but has no right to stop anyone from simply being on a public street.

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"No government can ban people from gathering on public grounds," he said. "Whether they are gang members or not, sidewalks have been used as public forums from time immemorial . . . you're diminishing an individual's right to freedom of association."

Levy said he recognized that some First Amendment issues may be involved, but that preliminary injunctions have survived constitutional review in other states. "I think we're wise in starting this off as a pilot project and allowing ourselves the time to find out that works and what doesn't, then tinker with it along the way," he said.