Grant County ordinance aimed at preventing gang signs

EPHRATA — A proposed Grant County ordinance would make using words, signs or gestures to provoke assault illegal.

The commissioners plan to have a public hearing on the proposal, aimed at gang members, on Nov. 22 at 1:30 p.m. in the commissioners’ hearing room on the second floor of the Grant County Courthouse in Ephrata.

The change to the Disorderly Conduct ordinance would punish people provoking assault be requiring a sentence between 10 days and one year in jail. The sentence can be converted to community services at a rate of eight hours for each day. The punishment would be added to any simultaneous convictions.

The proposal started with letters from Ephrata and Quincy police departments, asking the county to create an ordinance to make signaling rival gang members with gang signs a criminal offense.

“Gang experts agree that most gangs use hand signs to identify their gang and as a form of communication,” Quincy Mayor Jim Hemberry and police Chief Richard Ackerman stated. “The flashing of gang signs is a precursor to gang related violence.”

The comments were echoed in a letter from Ephrata police Chief Mike Warren. The chief said in an interview, Cpl. Joe Downey discovered a similar ordinance in Toppenish as part of his research into how other jurisdictions deal with gangs.

City staff are in the process of working with the city attorney to develop ordinances, Warren said, adding the Downey suggested it would be something the county could implement.

“The prosecutor’s office really liked it, so they took it and ran,” Warren said. “We are trying to stay ahead of the curve and identify gang members and deal with them before it becomes too critical.”

After the county passed a recent ordinance providing additional punishment for graffiti, Prosecutor Angus Lee said he reached out to law enforcement agencies for other ideas to deal with gangs, and received the idea.

“Occasionally law enforcement will see two rival gang members who use gang signs to start a fight,” he said. “This allows police to intercept them before a fight breaks out.”