Why does Chicago Police care about people on the streets flashing gang signs? I hear it reported on the scanner often. Wouldn’t that be protected “speech”? Seems to me it’s no different than wearing a shirt or cap with the logo of their favorite sports team. Why bother with them unless/until they commit a crime? Do the gangs only do it when they’re about to shoot someone?
Idiot kids and gang wannabes flash gang signs all the time. What, are the Chicago police arresting people seen doing it? And on what charge?
Criminals are not very bright and will stand out like a sore thumb to the police. Like wearing certain clothes, flashing signs, driving certain looking vehicles, riding certain types of bikes. Etc.
Where there is smoke, there is fire… And in this case, where these things are found, so can criminal activity.
If they were smart, they would dress and act in a manner which would not stand out. But also if they were smart, they would have a regular job and not need to be criminals.
I can’t see any grounds for arresting them, but it’s still a very useful thing for police to track. If, for instance, you start seeing a lot of gang signs associated with the Bloods in an area previously controlled by the Kings, that might be a sign that there’s a turf war coming, and so the police need to focus more resources on that area. Or it might be an indication of gangs spreading into areas where there previously wasn’t any significant gang presence.
It’s not the signs which are necessary illegal but the use of them. The same way a cell phone isn’t illegal, nor is a torrent. It’s what use use them for that is.
Many jurisdictions have laws the prohibit the facilitation of gang activities or the furtherance of an illegal purpose.
Further a person on probation or parole can have it made a condition his/her license to refrain from using such things.
There are also things as “safe zones,” usually around schools, that give police broader application t prevent use of such things.
I’ve heard at least a couple of stories of rappers who got into a shootout after someone flashed a gang sign at them. So, it would seem that at lease some of the time, flashing a gang sign is a challenge, which I suppose could be considered to be inciting violence.
Depending on how a cop interprets it, it could also be considered probable cause to at least stop and frisk.
in LA at least the DA has injunctions against certain gangs and certain gang activities. maybe they do the same in Chicago and this is a violation of a court order?
Because it causes a snowball effect. One shitbag flashes gang signs and another shitbag from a rival gang sees it and gets in his face. Then more show up and so on. These turds take those things seriously and now you have a bunch of them in a confrontation, fights, shooting, etc… The neighbors and business don’t want that kind of thing happening.
It’s not the gang sign that’s illegal. But I’ve run guys on loitering, prowling, PPV and DC for doing it. I’ve also made 'stains straighten out their cap or turn their shirt inside-out even though I had no authority to. So what? My job is to maintain order. If people are worried about bangers rights invite them in for a cup of tea but they’re not doing that horseshit on my streets.
I was under the impression that although the signs can be protected speech, being a member of a street gang was illegal, and that throwing signs is a kind of defacto admission that you were a member of a street gang.
“Protected speech” does not include speech that advocates or encourages violence or public disorder, or undermines lawful authority.
I’m going to call your sargent/captain/lieutenant and recommend that they give you a promotion… that was my favorite response on this thread, Sir.
My Brother in Law is a deputy sheriff with very limited back up in a small town/county. He is in the car by himself and backup is usually a minimum of 20 minutes away. Thank you for doing your job and keeping our country a safer place to live.
So you actually feel you can violate someone’s rights because you don’t like the way they dress?
Make up spurious charges for a legal act?
Abuse your authority without regard for the system of law?
Al Capone was responsible for numerous murders, but only went to prison for tax evasion. The cops take whatever opportunities they can get.
They’re already doing something illegal: Loitering, for instance. If all they want to do is stand there and look bored, that’s fine. If they’re going to loiter and flash a gang sign, that’s not so fine.
Did you not read the totality of responses? This question seems quite disingenuous, like you’re going out of your way to not understand. If he treads on their rights it’s to prevent serious violence, not to satisfy his fashion sensibilities.
Loitering by itself is not “something illegal” anywhere in the USA. Chicago tried to ban Loitering, defining it as " “remaining in any one place with no apparent purpose”, but it was thrown out by the Supreme Court. Chicago then rewrote the law, as “remaining in any one place under circumstances that would warrant a reasonable person to believe that the purpose or effect of that behavior is to enable a criminal street gang to establish control over identifiable areas, to intimidate others from entering those areas, or to conceal illegal activities.” Such a law, as far as I know, is in force only in Chicago, so even that would not constitute something already illegal in the USA in general.
No, not that I can tell. But I’m hearing that citizens are reporting it and then dispatchers send a unit to check it out.
Was just curious. Lots of good responses. Thanks.
Telling someone to straighten out their cap or turn their shirt inside out isn’t violating their rights. You could tell them the same thing. I certainly couldn’t charge them for telling me to pound sand over it but I can take them on prowling, disorderly conduct and such depending on the circumstances.
Plus, a lot of those slags are on probation or parole and there are stipulations to it which usually includes no negative contacts with law enforcement, no gang affiliation, no drug/alcohol or even reference to such. So if I run a Queries & Warrants on someone and they comeback on paper with those stipulations and they have on a hat or shirt with gang signs, a marijuana leaf, or they were flashing signs, that a probation parole violation and they can be taken on it.
Actually, they do. A desire to remain anonymous and difficult to identify by police was the motivation behind many gang members to wear plain white t-shirts. If everyone wore the same thing, no one would stand out and identifying any one specific suspect becomes difficult. I’m not sure where it originated, but it started as a street thing and got very popular with urban youth in general.