Signed by Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr.

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires counties and municipalities to designate areas within their respective jurisdictions in which law enforcement officers are authorized to require anyone engaged in "gang loitering" to disperse or face criminal charges.

Highlights:

- Defines "gang loitering" as a person or group that remains in one place causing a reasonable person to believe that the purpose of the behavior is to enable or facilitate a criminal street gang to establish control over one or more identifiable areas, intimidate others from entering those areas, or conceal illegal activities (Sec. 1). - Defines "criminal street gang" as an organization, association, or a group of three or more persons that is currently in operation, has as one of its substantial activities the commission of one or more predicate gang crimes, has, as a group, an identifying name or an identifying sign or symbol, and whose members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity (Sec. 1). - Authorizes law enforcement, upon observing a suspected member of a criminal street gang engaging in "gang loitering," to order all persons of the group to disperse and remove themselves from within sight and hearing of the location or be subject to arrest and charged with a class B misdemeanor (Sec. 3). - Specifies that a second or subsequent violation within eight hours after the first order to disperse is also a class B misdemeanor and the violator is subject to a fine of not less than $100, provided that the court does not find mitigating circumstances justifying a lesser punishment (Sec. 4). - Requires the sheriff or chief of police implementing the provisions of this Act to ensure that all officers charged with enforcing the provisions of this Act have successfully completed appropriate training on identifying criminal gang members and criminal street gangs (Sec. 7). - Specifies that the provisions of this Act do not affect or limit any individual's constitutional right to engage in collective advocacy activities and requires the sheriff or chief of police to issue a written directive to all agency employees that provides information on preventing constitutional infringements while enforcing the provisions of this Act (Sec. 6).

Full Bill Text