The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice have filed a class action lawsuit against the city of Wichita, saying that citizens have been unlawfully targeted and harmed by the Wichita Police Department’s use of a “gang list.”
ACLU Legal Director Sharon Brett said in a press release that Black and Latinx community members “have been surveilled, harassed and punished, without notice and without cause, because they meet arbitrary criteria that allows WPD to label them a gang member.”
The complaint says members of the Wichita community do not have to commit or even be charged with a criminal offense to be placed on the gang list. The complaint said the criteria for the list “are vague and broad and encompass a wide range of innocuous, innocent and constitutionally-protected behavior.” The complaint says the gang list is discriminatory and disproportionately impacts Black and Latinx residents. It says people on that list, if they are charged with a crime, will face higher bond amounts, more severe probation and parole conditions and enhanced sentences. The complaint says even people without charges could face surveillance, harassment and discriminatory policing by the WPD.
The complaint said one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit was jailed again for violating conditions of his probation after he attended his brother’s funeral, where other people on the gang list were present.
There has been no official response from the city of Wichita to the lawsuit at this time.
