Injunction against Hidden Valley gang members set to expire

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Hidden Valley gang problems have been well documented.

Last year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police tried a novel approach by getting a legal injunction against the Hidden Valley Kings. That injunction was only for a year, and in a month, it'll expire.

NBC Charlotte's Glenn Counts went to Hidden Valley to see if this experiment worked and if residents want to see it renewed. It is one of the largest neighborhoods in town with more than 15,000 residents.

"Everybody around here calls me Momma and grandmother, even the children, you see them coming through," Lucielle Beatty said.

Beatty has lived here for 43 years. You can find plenty of Lucielles in Hidden Valley. You can also find the Hidden Valley Kings.

"We just knew because of the violence and the drugs that we saw associated with a lot of the gang members that we had to do something," Capt. Rob Dance with CMPD said.

The injunction was a civil measure and it blocked certain alleged members from associating with each other or having any contact, and it lowered the legal threshold for police to contact them.

"I think it's been very effective," Capt. Dance said.

Police say that since the injunction, robberies are down 15 percent, assaults with deadly weapons are down 28 percent and gunshot cases are down 43 percent in Hidden Valley.

The injunction is set to expire on August 17. Police are not sure if they are going to try and renew it and even if they try, it's not clear if the courts will go along.

Officers may be asked to prove that it works and the problem with that is if a crime does not occur, can they show why.

"If someone were to get a restraining order on somebody and not have any problems with the person for a year, how can we prove that piece of paper actually protected the person?" the captain says.

Police say if the injunction is renewed more people might be added to the list. And it the courts don't agree, and the injunction is shot down, officers say they still know who to keep an eye on.