The gangs of Sunnyside

Sunnyside, in Central Washington, has plenty of reason to push the envelope in attempting to crack down on street gangs. City Manager Bob Stockwell says, "We literally have children in our streets carrying loaded firearms."

The city's new anti-gang ordinance approved this week is innovative, bold, message-sending and probably illegal.

Fed up and rightly so by the prevalence of gangs in criminal activity, the Sunnyside City Council voted unanimously to criminalize active participation in a gang. City leaders say their new law is modeled after a California law, but Sunnyside's law goes further, likely too far.

The ordinance makes being a criminal street-gang member, recruiting members and using threats to force someone to become a gang member a gross misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum penalty of a year in jail and/or a $5,000 fine.

The law even defines a street gang as a group of three or more people with a leader and an identifiable name that takes part in criminal activities.

Anyone casually perusing the new rules might find them reasonable. Why not interfere with people with bad intentions who make the streets more dangerous?

The "why not" is simply that in the process of accusing people of being in a gang, police will violate the rights of innocents to freely associate, to wear certain clothing and make hand signals. These actions are not illegal. Police also may waste too much time trying to figure out who is working with whom.

A better course is to create more-pervasive gang units or to better enforce laws already on the books. Serious threats of bodily harm are already prohibited. Same for plotting criminal activity.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is watching, considering future action.

The bottom line is, if a small town with limited resources can make a dent in gang activity with a law that passes legal muster, city leaders have a right to try. But from the get-go, this law appears too broad and invasive.