Thread: ACLU TAKES ON ESCONDIDO'S LICENSE CHECKPOINTS

ACLU takes on Escondido's license checkpoints

By Angela Lau (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer

8:22 p.m. April 21, 2009

ESCONDIDO – The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday demanded that the city of Escondido change the way it conducts driver's license checkpoints, which critics say are intended to apprehend and deport illegal immigrants and are resulting in suspicion and resentment among many Latinos.

At a news conference in San Diego with El Grupo – a coalition of Latino and advocacy organizations – the ACLU said the city needs to be more transparent.

Escondido has checkpoints about twice a month, for two hours, on a busy road. Drivers who fail to produce licenses or have revoked or suspended licenses are stopped, and usually their vehicles are impounded.

If a warrant check shows that they are illegal immigrants and are wanted by immigration authorities, they are turned over, Police Chief Jim Maher said.

Those who can't be identified are taken to the police station for fingerprinting and a background check.

Andrea Guerrero, an ACLU director, said police should record all interactions between officers and drivers at the checkpoints, list the ethnicity of drivers who are stopped to safeguard against profiling, and appoint an oversight committee to monitor the department.

“Driver's license checkpoints are fishing expeditions for illegal immigrants,â€

ESCONDIDO: El Grupo calls on city to replace police chief

Latino rights group says police polices creating fear in Latino community

Members of a North County Latino rights group on Tuesday called on the city of Escondido to replace its police chief, saying his policies, especially his department's frequent use of driver's license checkpoints, have created an atmosphere of fear in the community.

Both the police chief and the city's mayor rejected the call.

Members of El Grupo, an umbrella group of civil rights organizations, held a press conference at the American Civil Liberties Union offices in San Diego. Although the ACLU is one of the organizations that make up El Grupo, it did not call for the chief's removal.

At a subsequent news conference, Escondido police Chief Jim Maher told reporters that he would not step down. He defended his policies, saying they do not target any one group, but are aimed at increasing public safety in the city.

The police chief, who was appointed in 2006, said he has made efforts to calm fears in the community by attending and hosting community forums, and by hiring a community liaison to help improve relations between Latinos and the department. But those efforts have been hampered by Latino activists, he said.

"There are many in this community that are trying to explain to the immigrant community that we are not on their side," Maher said. "And this morning's (El Grupo) press conference is a great example. They want the immigrant community to believe that we should not be trusted and that they should fear us."

City Manager Clay Phillips, who hires the police chief, could not be reached for comment.

Members of El Grupo said the checkpoints have led many in the community to fear deportation if they report crimes to the police. Immigrants, predominantly of Latino descent, make up about a quarter of the city's population of 128,800, according to 2007 U.S. Census estimates.

"There is a strong and now indelible perception within the Latino community that the Escondido police chief and the department are working hand-in-hand with immigration authorities," said Victor Torres, a Rancho Penasquitos attorney and spokesman for El Grupo.

Maher said only a handful of people have been turned over to immigration authorities in recent years, and only one in 2008, as a result of the checkpoints.

At their news conference, El Grupo presented two women who said they have been affected by Escondido police policies. One of the women said her sister was arrested at a checkpoint in October and subsequently turned over to immigration authorities and deported.

"I don't think what the police are doing is right," said the woman, who did not want her name published because she said she has other family members who are in the country illegally, including two of her sister's four children.

The other woman, who also did not want her name published, said she witnessed a sexual assault but did not report it for fear of the police. She instead told a schoolteacher who reported the incident.

Andrea Guerrero, field and policy director for the ACLU in San Diego, made several recommendations for the department, including that it collect racial and ethnic data of people who come into contact with its officers.

Guerrero said the information could be used to determine whether the department is targeting any particular group, a practice sometimes known as racial profiling.

The police chief said he did not agree with the recommendation because the information could be skewed and used by groups against the department.

Maher said the department does not aim to arrest illegal immigrants and that they are safe to report crimes without fear of being turned over to federal authorities. He said only one person was deported as a result of its checkpoints in 2008.

The woman, whose name was not released by the chief, was arrested at a checkpoint because she did not have a license. After police checked her criminal background, they found out that the woman was wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was turned over to the agency.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent works part time out of an office in the Escondido Police Department. It is the only department in North County that has an immigration agent in its facilities.

Maher said the agent is there to work with the department's anti-gang unit and to identify criminal illegal immigrants, those who have committed serious crimes and those who have been deported repeatedly.

In recent years, the Escondido Police Department has conducted many more checkpoints and confiscated more vehicles than any other law enforcement agency in North County.

From 2005 to 2007, Escondido police conducted about 40 checkpoints, compared to only 13 in Oceanside during the same time period, according to data provided by the police departments.

The Escondido Police Department seized nearly 10,000 vehicles in the last three years from unlicensed drivers, more than double the 4,422 vehicles impounded by Oceanside police over the same period and far more than the 705 impounded by Carlsbad police, according to a North County Times review of police records in August.

Maher said the checkpoints were an important tool in helping to reduce hit-and-run accidents in the city by 36 percent in recent years, from 2004 to 2008.

Members of El Grupo said the checkpoints are ineffective, pointing to other cities in North County that have experienced similar drops in hit-and-run accidents without using high numbers of driver's license checkpoints.

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.

Previous stories:

REGION: Activists call checkpoints unfair

REGION: Escondido's checkpoints big business

NORTH COUNTY TIMES

Blah Blah blah blah Notice it is another Latino group opposing.

Andrea Guerrero, an ACLU director, said police should record all interactions between officers and drivers at the checkpoints, list the ethnicity of drivers who are stopped to safeguard against profiling, and appoint an oversight committee to monitor the department.

The ACLU is asking the police to profile drivers by race now?!?!?! I thought that question wasn't "allowed" to be asked?

From what I read the reason that woman was caught was because she was driving without a license, which in itself is illegal. Everyone in the US must have a license to drive, why is she supposed to be an exception?

No license? No ID? Well, run her name thru the criminal database, oops! She was wanted by ICE. So what's the problem? She obviously had a prior.

Were any other hispanics pulled over? Did they have valid licenses? Wasn't everyone asked to show their license? She didn't have one, her fault!

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Sgt. D. Ray

DATE: 4/04/2009 PHONE: (760) 839-4960

DUI / DRIVER’S LICENSE CHECKPOINT: APRIL 3, 2009

On April 3, 2009, the Escondido Police Department conducted a DUI Sobriety / Driver’s License

Checkpoint in the 700 block of West Grand Avenue from 6:00 PM until 12:15 AM. The emphasis of this checkpoint was to detect intoxicated and unlicensed drivers as well as to provide a highly visible operation to deter driving under the influence.

The following activity resulted from this checkpoint:

 2,794 vehicles entered the checkpoint eastbound on Grand Avenue
 1,189 vehicles were screened in primary
 91 vehicles sent to secondary (drivers who could not produce a driver’s license or who were
suspected of being under the influence of alcohol or drugs)
 3 drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
 1 misdemeanor criminal arrest was made
 11 field sobriety tests were administered
 46 vehicles were impounded at this checkpoint, 21 drivers did not have auto insurance, 12
drivers had a suspended driver’s license and 35 drivers did not have a driver’s license
 53 citations were issued at this checkpoint

This checkpoint operated in conjunction Mothers against Drunk Drivers and the North County

Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Council.
Drunk Driving Over the Limit Under Arrest. Report Drunk Drivers, Call 911
Submitted by
Sgt. Dana Ray
Traffic Division

http://www.ci.escondido.ca.us/police/ne ... -04-09.pdf

I don't understand the problem with targeting illegal aliens at checkpoints. What is the problem with that, legally-speaking? That in certain parts of the country, this also means they're targeting Hispanics or Latinos? Well, some number I saw recently was that 2/3rds of the illegals in the US are Hispanic and over half of them are from Mexico?

As soon as they're all arrested and detained, then Hispanic and Latino Americans won't have to worry about this.

During WWII, German Americans were targeted as potential spies as were Japanese Americans. If you're looking for German and Japanese spies and traitors, you aren't going to target Mexican or Puerto Rican Americans. During the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, all Americans were targeted as spies.

The ACLU is off base here and people need to stop funding them. All they do is work against the best interest of our people to promote foreign interests.

Pass the FairTax and pull the plug on their funding!

www.fairtax.org

Checkpoints have gone on for years here...helps get drunk drivers off the road. Never use to hear of a public outcry about them. It is a public safety issue, drunk or unlicensed is unsafe, period.

miguelina wrote:

From what I read the reason that woman was caught was because she was driving without a license, which in itself is illegal. Everyone in the US must have a license to drive, why is she supposed to be an exception?

No license? No ID? Well, run her name thru the criminal database, oops! She was wanted by ICE. So what's the problem? She obviously had a prior.

Come on miguelina, you know good and well our opposition never utilizes common sense and logic in their arguments! To do so would leave them with no argument at all.

Victor Torres, an El Grupo spokesman, said the checkpoints have alienated many of Escondido's Latino residents, about 45 percent of the city's 143,000 population, to the point that they no longer trust police enough to report crimes

Just as agrneydgrl put it: blah,blah,blah..the same ole whining about being stopped at check points. And the same ole story they will quit reporting crimes!

Same ole thing.stop enforcing other laws as not to upset the Hispanic Community....evidentally they do not live by laws and rules. And evidentally they must have something to hide.

The police chief, who was appointed in 2006, said he has made efforts to calm fears in the community by attending and hosting community forums, and by hiring a community liaison to help improve relations between Latinos and the department. But those efforts have been hampered by Latino activists, he said.

You will not appease these people unless you just roll over for them!

I don't think what the police are doing is right," said the woman, who did not want her name published because she said she has other family members who are in the country illegally, including two of her sister's four children.

DUH!.....Like so many others that are here .And they may target Latinos or Hispanics for a very good reason!

CALLED BREAKING THE LAW!....IN THEIR CASE LAWS

Members of El Grupo said the checkpoints have led many in the community to fear deportation if they report crimes to the police. Immigrants, predominantly of Latino descent, make up about a quarter of the city's population of 128,800, according to 2007 U.S. Census estimates.

So, if they were not here illegally they would not have a problem. If they were in their country of origin, for example, they would be legal residents and could report all of the crimes they wanted. Looks like an easy decision to me. Go back to where you came from. I have no sympathy for people who come here illegally, are victimized, and then wish to blame our law enforcement and government officials who are complying with the law. Blame La Raza. Blame LULAC. Blame the ACLU and the SPLC. They are the ones that have created a shield for criminals and sexual deviants to enter this country illegally and unscreened by filing law suits at the drop of a sombrero and intimidating local governments. What if the crimes were reported? If the perpetrators are illegal aliens, La Raza, ACLU, etc will be right there protecting them.
If these sorry excuses for activism truly gave two hoots in hell about the communities they say they do, they would be for enforcing immigration laws, not poking holes in them.