The largest and most active street gang in Oceanside has been slapped with a gang injunction on Friday. The ban targets 50 of its members.
Varrio Posole has claimed the east side of Oceanside for three generations. Police say lately its members have been committing more assaults, street robberies and drug dealing in that area.
More than half of its most active gang members are hit with the gang injunction. The youngest is 14 years old.
These gang members can now be arrested for any type of suspicious behavior on the eastside – from possessing a permanent marker -- which is often used for tagging -- to wearing gang-affiliated clothing.
Dana Greisen is the chief of the gang prosecution unit for the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. He says the goal is to eliminate the gang threat on Oceanside's Eastside. He says the more organized this gang is, the more dangerous it can become.
“If you have 10 (Varrio Posole) gang members hanging out at a park, and one person walks by … they run and attack. When they get disrupted and kicked out of the neighborhood, they are now out of their element," said Greisen.
There are 19 gang injunctions in San Diego County. Six of them are in Oceanside.
