The League of United Latin American Citizens and other area civil rights groups want a U.S. Department of Justice mediator to smooth out differences between them and the Oxnard Police Department over the wording of a proposed gang injunction.

The groups fear that the legal document -- The People of the State of California v. Colonia Chiques, a violent street gang -- gives "carte blanche" law enforcement powers to police and prosecutors. They say that this could lead to widespread civil rights violations where police could illegally round up Hispanics and other minorities throughout the city.

David M. Rodriguez, national vice president of LULAC, said the Department of Justice's Community Relations Service agreed to set up mediation that would allow community activists, civil rights groups and police to iron out differences and create a legal document that everyone can live with.

"They have to bring all the parties to the table and let everybody speak their piece," Rodriguez said Wednesday.

The groups said they aren't against the proposed injunction but want to meet with police and prosecutors to fine-tune and tighten the legal language. The groups accused Police Chief Art Lopez of ignoring them before filing the gang injunction.

Lopez said he is willing to discuss the injunction with a federal mediator, LULAC and other community groups. However, he said, he spoke to Rodriguez on March 5 about the injunction. He said that Rodriguez told him the injunction "was long overdue" and that Rodriguez supported it.

The injunction would restrict gang members from such activities as wearing gang clothing, throwing gang signs, possessing alcohol, associating with other gang members and intimidating witnesses within a 6.6-square-mile portion of Oxnard called a safety zone, which covers 25 percent of the city, including La Colonia. The curfew would be in place from 10 p.m. to sunrise.

Superior Court Judge Frederick Bysshe will decide the fate of the permanent injunction against the Colonia Chiques gang members after a hearing Monday.

LULAC officials along with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Latino Task Force and the Committee on Raza Rights used a press conference outside Oxnard Police headquarters Wednesday to raise concerns about the proposed injunction.

"That's why we are all here because the district attorney and the chief of police that represents the city with the largest amount of working people did not contact anybody to our knowledge," Rodriguez said. "We feel very strongly that this could be hammered out with a reasonable solution and a reasonable injunction could have been arrived at."

Lopez said he spoke to Chris Espinosa, director of LULAC District 17, about the injunction this week. According to Lopez, Espinosa said Rodriguez was "just one (LULAC) member" but offered no input and seemed ignorant about how an injunction worked.

"I am disappointed in LULAC. I really am," Lopez said.

He said LULAC was not looking out for crime victims who are at the mercy of "street terrorists and thugs."

"Who is protecting their rights? You'd think LULAC would try and bend over backward to help these Latinos who are being victimized by gang members," Lopez said.

Espinosa called the injunction a "dangerous precedent" in the community because it names 500 so-called "John Doe" gang members.

"The discretion of determining who will be targeted under this injunction rests solely in the hands of the Oxnard Police Department, with no plan for community input and no plan for community oversight, and that is unacceptable," he said.

Under the injunction, Lopez said, it is illegal to round up gang members who haven't been served with legal papers. He said individuals must first appear before a judge, who will decide whether they are gang members before the injunction can be enforced.

There are about 40 injunctions against gangs in place in California, with 18 of those in the Los Angeles area alone. Most name 20 to 30 gang members, and the injunctions apply only to them, police said.

LULAC said civil rights have been violated through gang injunctions in other cities.

"We are very concerned about gangs," Rodriguez said. "However, we don't want to sacrifice the civil rights of everybody walking down the street. There is a lot of disconnect between the department and this community right now."