Report: Few People Gain Removal From CalGang Database

Speaker 1: 00:00 Three years have passed since assembly bill 2298 written by San Diego assembly members. Surely Weber became law. It gives people the right to challenge their name being in Cal gang, which is a database used by law enforcement to document suspected gang members. During the first year, the law went into effect. There were 16 removal requests. Only one was granted. That's according to the DOJ and a follow up report showed that of the 53 requests between November, 2017 and October, 2018 only 11 were granted. Kelly Davis voice of San Diego contributor reports. Cal gang holds 88,000 names with few people requesting removal and even fewer finding success. Kelly, thanks for joining us. Oh, thank you. The Cal gang database has come under criticism for including errors. There have been reports of people being added without supporting evidence and without their knowledge and critics have also said the database lacks oversight. How did assembly woman, Shirley Weber's legislation aim to address those concerns? Speaker 1: 01:04 So, probably the biggest issue with Cal gang prior, prior to Shirley Weber's legislation was that people had no way of knowing if they'd been added to the database. So, so what, uh, Shirley Weber did, um, and, and, and her, she's coming from the experience of, of her own son was, uh, threatened by police, uh, to be added to Cal gang. So, so she authored legislation that, among other things that requires law enforcement agencies to notify someone when they're added to Cal gang. And it also created a process for anyone in the database to ask to be removed. And, um, being in Cal gang, that itself isn't a crime. It doesn't mean that a person has committed a crime, but critics say that it effectively criminalizes people [inaudible] an entry will include a person's photo description of, of what they might be seen wearing scars, tattoos, names and addresses of family and friends, information about social media accounts. Speaker 1: 01:58 Um, so it's, it's pretty intrusive and it's not supposed to be used to conduct background checks, but there's evidence that it has been used for that purpose. What type of background checks are we talking or employment? Military. Um, there there's been some lawsuits about Cal gang being used, um, yeah. To, to check on, on folks applying for jobs or, or, uh, signing up for the military. Now the process to ask to be removed from the gang database has been described as inaccessible and ineffective. Can you explain the removal process? What's that like? So, uh, yeah, the urban peace Institute, which is a criminal justice reform group based in LA, uh, earlier this year they issued a report highlighting some of the challenges people have faced when they've asked to be removed. So, so what happens, the first step is a person will make a request in writing and law enforcement is supposed to respond and provide evidence for why that person's in Calgary. Speaker 1: 02:52 But what the urban peace Institute found is that some agencies won't respond at all. Um, there were supposed to respond within 30 days. If they don't, it's, it's considered kind of a default denial, but that doesn't always necessarily mean that the request is being denied. It could mean that the agency just doesn't have a policy in place for how to respond. Um, some law enforcement agencies ask people to come in for an interview, um, and that's not required an insurer, Lee rubbers law and, um, kind of the bottom line, uh, critics of this process say is that law enforcement agencies have to prove by clear and convincing evidence that a person is currently an active gang member. Um, but attorneys, you know, representing folks trying to get out of kegging and they're saying that that their, their clients aren't being provided with this evidence or the attorneys aren't being allowed to challenge this evidence. Speaker 1: 03:44 And, and so, um, bottom line is there's a lot of confusion over what this removal process is supposed to look like. Advocates working with those who've requested removal. Say it's rare law enforcement can even prove the person is an active gang member as required by law. You highlight Tyrone Simmons case as an example of that, right? So, so Tyron Simmons who lives in San Diego, he was one of the first people to challenge his Cal gang status in court after AB two, two, nine, eight took effect. And, um, he was documented when he was 21. He admits that he got into some trouble in his early twenties, but then he turned his life around. He got a college degree, he started his own business. He helps run a charity that holds, um, fundraisers and back to school drives to provide low income kids with backpacks and haircuts. So you know, very much an upstanding citizen and he wants to be a role model for youth. Speaker 1: 04:38 Um, but his request to be removed from Cal gang was denied. And so the next step, uh, was he filed a petition in court and I attended those hearings last year. And, and, uh, I mean police couldn't provide any evidence to show that Mr. Simmons was currently an active gang member. Um, and they kind of ultimately deferred to San Diego police departments practice of keeping it people in Cal gang for at least five years. And so in 2014, Mr. Simmons had been stopped, uh, leaving, uh, an Easter party with a, as police put it, a known Lincoln park gang member, um, that known Lincoln park gay member was, was Aaron Harvey, Mr. Simmons friend. Uh, and, and you know, a lot of San Diego's might recognize Aaron's name. Um, cause he's been very active in trying to reform gang laws. He's actually a student at UC Berkeley right now and, and, um, you know, he, he's, he's suing the San Diego police department and gang detectives for civil rights violations, um, stemming from his arrest in June, 2014. Speaker 1: 05:44 Um, you know, so, so Aaron Harvey's really become a community leader on this issue. And it was interesting that this is the guy that, that Tyrone was in the car with, you know, that the police are using to, to prove active gang members status from the law enforcement perspective. Is there any evidence the database is an effective tool to help police solve crime? So law enforcement says, yes, it's a necessary tool. You know, it helps them, uh, solve gang-related crimes. Uh, but, uh, Sean Garcia leis, he's a attorney with urban peace Institute whom I spoke to and he said he'd really like to see the, the state department of justice spend the next year looking at how gay, how Cal gang is actually used. Um, you know, do, do a kind of rigorous study and take that information to make policy changes. Um, so, you know, he says, yeah, Cal gang is supposed to be used for criminal investigations, but let's look at examples of when did Cal gang help police solve a crime? Speaker 1: 06:42 Um, and you know, when police are searching the database to help solve a crime, who are they pulling up? What are those searches have in common? And kind of try to piece together, you know, what would be the most effective, um, public safety minded use of Cal gang rather than just cramming in, you know, tens of thousands of names based on, you know, what folks say is, is flimsy evidence. There have been revisions made to Cal gang guidelines that will be completed by January. Can you talk about some of those changes? So some of those revisions, um, address issues that, that folks have raised that, you know, kind of criminalize people who live in, in neighborhoods that are considered, you know, gain territory. So if you're associating with someone who's believed to be a gang member, that's no longer criteria to be entered. Um, if you're simply in an area that police considered to be a gang name Daver hood, that's no longer criteria and uh, no one under 13 can be added to Cal gang. Speaker 1: 07:41 But as you point out in your story, those revisions don't address the process to get removed from the database. Is that right? Correct, yeah. Critics of, of Cal gang, we're hoping for some clarity on the removal process. Um, and there was a technical advisory committee that provided a lot of input and you know, this issue was brought up quite often in those committee hearings, but ultimately the guidelines don't really get to the removal process. So after talking with assemblywoman Weber, is this an issue she plans to revisit? Uh, yeah. She told me that after the first of the year she'd like to convene some sort of forum. Um, she's not sure what that will look like, but somewhere where people can provide testimony about how Cal gang reforms are working, what they'd like to see changed or not change. And she said she'd like to specifically look at the removal process. I've been speaking with Kelly Davis contributor with voice of San Diego. Thank you very much, Kelly. Thank you.