Members of the North Side Oakland gang will face severe restrictions on activity within a proposed "safety zone" that covers about 100 blocks between Interstate 580, Emeryville, Berkeley and Telegraph Avenue, if a judge approves a court order against them in the coming weeks.

City Attorney John Russo and Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts announced the court order, also known as a gang injunction, this morning, Feb. 18, in a press conference at City Hall.

Russo's office filed the injunction today and expects to learn next week when the matter will be seen in court.

Oakland Local wrote about the proposed injunction on Feb. 5. Law enforcement agencies say injunctions are a tool that can clamp down on gang activity by restricting with whom and where members can hang out, what they can wear and what they can do. Gang members named in the injunction face up to six months in jail and fines up to $1,000 if they violate the order.

Civil liberties advocates and other opponents say injunctions can be problematic, leading to racial profiling and an overwhelming police presence.

Nineteen individuals will be named in the injunction initially, according to Alex Katz, spokesman for the city attorney's office. Their names appear below.

The civil complaint leaves room for up to 70 individuals to be added, according to court documents.

Anyone who is named but wishes to be removed from the injunction will have the chance to present evidence in his or her defense.

Police Capt. Anthony Toribio described the gang, which has primarily black membership, as a "drug gang" responsible for marijuana, cocaine and heroin sales in the neighborhood. Some, though not all, of the members live in the zone, which stretches over much of the area from Vallejo Street east to Telegraph Avenue and from 36th Street north to 67th Street. (A downloadable PDF map appears below the story.)

According to police, the North Side Gang has been responsible for rising violence in the neighborhood, including at least 11 homicides and at least 16 shootings in the past three years.

In 2007, Russo said there were three gang incidents involving murders, shootings or other violent crimes. That rose to seven in 2008 and 18 in 2009. Seven of last year's incidents resulted in homicides.

Jory Steele, managing attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, has worked to challenge gang injunctions for several years, including one in West Sacramento that ultimately was thrown out for being unconstitutional.

"The best way to solve the problem is not through having a gang injunction," she said Thursday afternoon. "Programs, job opportunities, education, these all provide a better chance of reducing people’s desire to join a gang."

Steele said injunctions criminalize daily behavior. Gang members named in an injunction would be unable to attend outreach programs together in the safety zone to learn how to get out of the gang life, for example. Going to the grocery store or a little league game could become a punishable offense if other gang members show up, she said.

Though officials at Thursday's news conference said the injunction was narrowly focused to ensure respect for civil liberties, Steele said there were some problematic elements.

For one, the injunction names only the gang, North Side Oakland, and "DOE ONE through DOE SEVENTY" as defendants. Not naming the gang members means there may be people affected by the ruling who aren't even notified.

Rocio Fierro, in the city attorney's office, said eight people would be notified next week, three in person and five by mail.

Katz, also of the city attorney's office, said 19 people will be named in court. This raises the question of, if not everyone is notified, how they would be able to defend themselves in court.

"The fact that they didn’t name anybody, that doesn’t feel very narrow," Steele said. "It leaves too many questions out there."

Part of San Francisco's agreement, during its gang injunction process over the past few years, was to notify every single person named in the court documents, though the rules of civil injunctions don't require that.

Oakland didn't hew to the same standard, Steele said.

She also pointed out that the "association" section of the court order is quite broad, and that it could have been written more narrowly so as not to impinge so much on normal daily activities.

The 100-block radius the civil attorney's office named as the safety zone also struck Steele as a "pretty large area," which could make regular activities difficult. Injunctions can be put in place in as small an area as four blocks.

Josephine Lee lives in the neighborhood slated to become the safety zone and is active in community safety efforts. She gave her age only as "over 80."

Lee said drug dealing and prostitution are common in the area. Neighborhood toughs hang out near shops and harass customers. One business had to close, she said, because so much harassment was going on outside.

She expressed optimism about the injunction.

"It's going to have to be an improvement," she said. "It can't get much worse."

Charles Porter, 68, attended the news conference and said he's lived in the proposed safety zone off and on for 65 years.

"I don't know that this is going to be a quick fix," he said. "I would have felt better if Berkeley was more involved."

Berkeley police did not attend the conference, but Oakland officials said they have met with police in the neighboring city and that the agencies are on the same page.

Porter said it's easy to see drug dealing in his neighborhood at all hours of the day and "prostitutes day or night." The area has been plagued by such problems for decades, he said.

He said the idea of the injunction made him feel "hopeful," but added that he was concerned about who might move into the area to control the drug trade, even if North Side Oakland can be pushed out.

"If they leave, who's going to take their place?" he asked. "Knowing drug dealing, you remove one and someone else replaces him."

Individuals named in the injunction, according to the city attorney's office, include: Stephon Anthony; Rafael Campbell; Marcelus Collins; Derris Dillard; Brian Downing; Darrel Easley; Donta Easley; Tyrone Elebeck; Samuel Flowers; Tyrone Jackson; Chanzae Johnson; Roy Johnson Jr.; Bao Viet Ngo; Anthony Price; Christopher Patrick aka Terrence Stone, Christopher Farley or Patrick Farley; Anthony Smith; Lucious Taylor; Eric Tullis; and Yancie Young. Their names and cities of residence were not available today.