Suspected gang affiliates to receive notice

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Notices will be sent out in less than 30 days, Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee said last week.

Police estimate there are about 25 to 30 adult gang affiliates in the Ontario and Nyssa areas who have been through the criminal justice system.

Criminal gangs, by their very nature, threaten police and citizens, according to the ordinance.

On a persistent basis, graffiti and vandalism victimizes and annoys residents throughout the community, while gang-related shootings in Ontario and two in Nyssa shook area residents during a four-week span between late June and July.

Designating people who are in gangs, according to the ordinance, will help police address the community-wide concerns and problems that gangs present.

The ordinance also sets a procedure on how police can designate someone as a gang affiliate to avoid mistaken designations.

Specifically, there are two lists of criteria - a designee must meet one criterion in the first list, or two in the second list to be designated as a gang affiliate, which without an appeal could remain active for four years with the Malheur County District Attorney's Office.

Roughly, in the first list, someone must either: admit gang affiliation, participate in a gang ceremony, or commit or conspire to commit a gang-related crime, according the ordinance.

Or, if someone meets at least two criteria in the second list they can be designated, including but not limited to: the person wears clothes or jewelry unique to a gang, which indicates affiliation or the person uses a hand sign or language that indicates gang affiliation, or the person is in a photograph with other people who collectively display criminal gang signs or apparel to exhibit solidarity, according to the ordinance.

A law enforcement officer can request someone be designated as a gang affiliate - if the conduct occurred in Ontario - by filling out a gang designation report form, and submitting it to Kee.

Kee will then review the designation request and determine whether or not to recommend the designation.

Designees are notified by regular and certified mail, according to the ordinance, listing indicators that prompted the designation, along with copies of supporting documentation.

The designee will have 14 days from the mailing date to contest the designation and request a hearing in writing; otherwise the subject will be designated as a criminal gang affiliate, according to the ordinance.

A designee can appeal to Kee, then Ontario City Manager Scott Trainor, and finally Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris.

If a designee wishes to appeal the decision by the D.A.'s office, then they can do so with the Malheur County Justice Court within two weeks, and undergo a hearing.

Designees may be represented by counsel, during the entire process, according to the ordinance.

If documentation presented to the D.A. supports designation, then, “the record of the person will be updated to reflect criminal gang affiliation designation,” which expires after four years, according to the ordinance.

Improper designations can be rescinded, and existing designees can appeal, according to processes laid out in the ordinance.

Even though the Ontario City Council apparently supports the ordinance, there was some dissent during a September gang forum in Nyssa concerning a similar, prospective county-wide ordinance.

After the public meeting in Nyssa, a 24-year-old, self-proclaimed former gang member, Stormy Stephens, 24, Ontario, said the ordinance was, “Wrong.”

Stephens said last year that designating gang members would make some people feel targeted, profiled, and possibly more resentful of police.

Kee said Friday the ordinance helps promote public safety, and is not designed to lessen people's rights.

The Jan. 2 ordinance approved by the City Council states: “The designation of an individual as a criminal gang affiliate does not give law enforcement or any other person the authority to take action against that individual that could not lawfully be taken against any individual not designated as a criminal gang affiliate.”

In an effort to clamp down on gang activity, officials have said the ordinance could be a way of limiting contact between designated affiliates and people on probation.

The city ordinance and a similar county version of the ordinance, which is on its way through Malheur County Court, are modeled off of a policy used by the Portland Police Bureau that designates gang members and lends them due process to contest designation, officials have said. The Ontario ordinance indicates that names of designated gang affiliates will be published monthly by the D.A.'s office. It is unclear if names will be available to the media, or just to law enforcement, according to the city's ordinance. Norris refused to answer questions on the ordinance last week, stating a public hearing in County Court would be the appropriate forum for queries.

A copy of the ordinance was forwarded to the American Civil Liberties Union for review, but as of Friday, no official response for publication had been issued.