there’ve been a few problems at the big cinco de mayo celebration on st. paul’s west side, including a drive-by shooting last year. this year, the city is seeking an injunction against 10 suspected members of the sureno 13 gang.

having grown up around the west side, i’m sympathetic to the organizers’ concerns about public safety in a growing, kid-friendly event. as a criminologist, i’m well aware of the repeated violence and disruption in similar festivals, as well as this festival in previous years. that said, i’m agnostic-bordering-on-skeptical about the claimed effectiveness of such narrowly targeted civil gang injunctions. as a citizen, i’m concerned about restrictions on freedom of assembly, movement, and spatial exclusions.

according to the pi press, the city got the injunction by proving that the gang is a public nuisance whose members have been involved in at least three instances of gang activity in the past 12 months. a ramsey county judge ordered the 10 alleged surenos 13 gang members to be prohibited from engaging in the following activities inside a circumscribed “safety zone” on the west side from 4 p.m. may 1 to 6 a.m. may 3:

No association with known criminal gang members
No intimidation
No use of gang signs
No gang clothing
Don’t force any person to join the defendant
Don’t prevent any person from leaving the defendant

about 100,000 people attend the event, so the order only targets .01% of the anticipated participants — the other 99.99% are apparently free to flash gang signs and consort with other gang members. it would be impressive police work indeed if such strategies proved effective in reducing violence at festivals. what happens if any of the 7 named adults or 3 juveniles violates the court order? violation is a misdemeanor, which also provides probable cause for police to remove them from the event.