VLVL2 (14): Oxnard Chiques

[Keith McMullen]

Oxnard has new plan to halt gang

Police, DA request injunction to create Colonia safety zone

By Leslie Parrilla, lparrilla at VenturaCountyStar.com
March 25, 2004

While tattooed gang members flashed signs and rapped in a video as part 
of a backdrop at a news conference Wednesday, Oxnard police announced a 
new strategy against the largest and most violent gang in the city.

  Officials from the District Attorney's Office and the Oxnard Police 
Department are requesting an injunction against La Colonia Chiques that 
is designed to create a safety zone where officers can exert more 
authority over the gang members.
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Deputy District Attorney Karen Wold said the request for a preliminary 
injunction was filed Tuesday, and investigators plan to serve all 1,000 
La Colonia gang members if it is approved by a judge at a May 24 
hearing. It would be the first such injunction in Ventura County.

  If approved, the injunction would be one of about 40 in the state that 
allow police to target specific gangs and arrest members for violating 
such things as wearing gang clothing, using gang gestures, drinking 
alcohol, associating with other gang members and intimidating 
witnesses.

  Police and District Attorney's Office investigators spent the past 
seven months amassing proof that the Colonia Chiques criminal street 
gang -- also known as COCH, COL and Eastside -- is a public nuisance.

  Police have connected the gang to 39 homicides in the city since 1992, 
and estimate 35 percent of all homicides are gang-related.

  The second-largest gang in the city pales in comparison to the La 
Colonia gang, with about 250 members.