Suffolk may abandon Wyandanch gang strategy

Suffolk County is on the verge of abandoning an unorthodox strategy of barring 37 suspected gang members from associating with one another in a certain part of Wyandanch.

The county has told lawyers for some of the men and for the New York Civil Liberties Union that it intends to walk away from the effort, launched last year during the administration of former County Executive Steve Levy.

"The county appears to be moving in the right direction, abandoning a fundamentally lazy approach to policing gang activity that would have allowed the police to arrest and punish people before they ever did anything wrong, just for being in a public place," said Corey Stoughton, senior staff attorney for the NYCLU. "There are smarter ways to fight crime, and it looks like the new administration recognizes that. We hope there will be a final end to this unconstitutional dragnet in the coming days."

State Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Arlen Spinner has scheduled a telephone conference with attorneys in the case Wednesday. Earlier this week, Stoughton asked Spinner to put the case on hold because the county had offered to discontinue it.

County Executive Steve Bellone's office confirmed the new administration isn't interested in pursuing the policy and is waiting for Frederick Brewington, a Hempstead attorney for several of the 37 men, to sign an agreement dismissing the case. The county may also make a motion to drop the case. Brewington could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The proposal aimed to diminish the influence of the Bloods street gang in Wyandanch. Injunctions filed against each of the men would have allowed police to arrest them simply for associating with one another in that area and charge them with contempt of court.

The effort was designed to limit the gang's ability to deal drugs and commit other crimes in the neighborhood, county officials said at the time.

But Brewington and Stoughton argued that the effort had the potential to violate basic constitutional rights. During a December court appearance, Spinner agreed that was possible and said the case could have ramifications far beyond Suffolk County.

The crime-ridden city of Oakland, Calif., has employed a similar effort since June 2010, designating two parts of the city as "safety zones" and prohibiting nearly 40 men from entering without a legitimate purpose.

The proposed Wyandanch injunction defines congregating as "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or appearing anywhere in public view or any place accessible to the public" within an area along a stretch of Straight Path.