RIVERSIDE -- It may soon become much more difficult for criminal street gangs to do their thing -- including wearing gang clothing or flashing signs -- in parts of Riverside County.

For the first time in county history, a civil lawsuit seeking an injunction has been filed against a violent gang which claims a portion of the city of Riverside as its turf.

Deputy District Attorney Jack Lucky, whose job it is to draft such lawsuits when asked by law enforcement agencies, said Friday that similar injunctions could make their way to Southwest County, as well.

"We are looking countywide. I have been requested by at least one (Southwest County) law enforcement agency to look at two gangs in their area," Lucky said.

He declined to identify the area or the gangs so as to not tip off members of those gangs.

Once a police or sheriff's department comes to the district attorney's office requesting a gang injunction, "there is a monumental effort" that follows to get the proper documents needed to file the civil lawsuit, Lucky said.

That work has been done in the case of one Riverside gang, a gang District Attorney Rod Pacheco called the largest and most violent in the county.

At a news conference Friday afternoon, Pacheco said the gang, Eastside Riva, has more than 700 members, of which 114 have been identified for the injunction. So far, he added, 89 of those have been served with a notice of the pending injunction.

Since Jan. 1, 2001, those 114 Eastside Riva gangsters have committed 897 documented crimes and have totalled 333 convictions, including some for murder, Pacheco said.

The news conference was held at E.T. Patterson Park, not far from the UC Riverside campus. Pacheco identified the park as the center of Eastside Riva gang territory, saying it had been taken over by the gang.

"Those days are gone and will be gone forever," he said.

As Pacheco spoke, children laughed and played in parts of the park behind him, while numerous armed members of law enforcement gang task forces stood nearby.

"Eastside Riva gang members have shown they cannot and will not allow citizens to live safely in this area," Pacheco said.

"We are determined to change that," he said, citing this injunction as a huge step toward that goal.

If Riverside County Superior Court Judge Edward Webster grants the district attorney's request at a Sept. 14 hearing, members of the gang will face the possibility of arrest and prosecution should they violate the injunction within what is called "a safety zone," a geographical area identified in the lawsuit.

Safety zones are typically areas known by authorities to be the gang's turf. In the case of Eastside Riva, it is a roughly three-square mile, irregularly shaped area where their activities are restricted and includes three high schools, two middle schools and two elementary schools.

Part of the identified gang turf runs just a couple of blocks from the Hall of Justice and Historic Courthouse in downtown Riverside.

Known gang members are not permitted to do any of the following within a safety zone: associate with one another, be around illegal drugs, trespass or loiter, violate curfew, drive recklessly, give police false information, try to intimidate anyone, consume alcohol in public, possess guns or illegal weapons, possess items used for vandalism or graffiti, fight in public or have any police scanners or two-way radios.

Anyone identified in the lawsuit as being a member of the gang can attend the hearing to dispute it.

Similar gang injunctions are in place in other areas of Southern California -- including Escondido and Oceanside -- and have proven successful in the battle against criminal street gangs, Pacheco said.

In previous cases, civil rights advocates have said injunctions like this violate basic freedoms before any actual crimes are committed.

Pacheco said gang injunctions are actually civil proceedings.

"Unless it is violated and then it becomes a criminal case," he said.

Without an injunction, police and deputies can only react to crimes committed by gang members.

"A gang injunction is a proactive method we can now use," Pacheco said.

When this civil lawsuit makes its way before the judge next month, it will request he grant a preliminary injunction against the gang, calling their activities "a public nuisance."

If granted, the district attorney's office will later seek a permanent injunction, Pacheco said.

"We're taking down criminal street gangs in Riverside County one gang at a time," the district attorney said.

According to statistics from the district attorney's office, as of 2006, there were 341 documented gangs in Riverside County comprised of more than 10,000 known members.

When asked what injunctions such as this one should tell gang members, Pacheco quickly quipped, "They should find another line of work or move to another county."

Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.