Friday, February 6, 2009

Griener's Gang Bill back in the Senate.

SB16 is still alive and ticking. After a 56-17 vote in the house this unconstitutional, human rights violating piece of legislation has passed and re-entered the senate. Following yesterdays debate, an amendment was proposed to help soften the blow of of it's unconstitutionality. Rep. David Latvick (D. Salt Lake - Minority Leader) proposed the changes yesterday during the bill's third reading. It now heads back to the Senate where it passed previously with flying colors. It appears this civil liberty nightmare is headed for a win.

To the credit of Rep Latvick, the bill was attempted to be ammended to require a public hearing before you can assign an area a gang free zone. In addition only trained officers in gang prevention can enforce this new law. However if you have ever been to a public hearing for a city council, 90 percent of the time the council's mind is made up. Our most recent meeting is a great example of that. See all the amendments here: (See Here)

Even after gang identification training a law enforcement officer can decide if you are in gang just by your hip hop clothing or tattoos and still get it wrong. Since the bill has no fiscal note for training, we have to assume this will be done locally. Maybe it will be a 1 hour PowerPoint in the break room on how to identify hip hop clothing. Either way, this bill brings with it a lot of unanswered questions and concerns.

I anticipate a flood of controversy after this bill passes the senate.

Interestingly enough the penalty for being a gang member in a gang free zone is not as bad as skateboarding in South Ogden. Greiner's Bill - Class B Misdemeanor $100 fine, South Ogden Skateboarding Ordinance - Class C Misdemeanor $1,000 fine.

Update:

The Standard Examiner has front page article on this subject: See Here

Rep. Latvick admits the following:

"While we’ve made gains in how to identify gang members, it’s not an exact science"
Going back to my previous point, an officer can go through a 1 hour training and all of the sudden is an expert in gangs. Then anyone who even appears to be in a gang can have his civil liberties violated. Soon certain types of music will be black listed because it could be gang related. Does anyone else sense Big Brother is gaining power?
Update: It appears I was wrong, the amendments did not pass and is moving on as is. I have made those corrections.
Comments welcome.

No comments: