Securing our communities

The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Mar 27, 2011 @ 12:18 AM

When there is a federal program that helps take dangerous criminals off our street without violating the rights of innocent people, why shouldn't it be made available to state and local law enforcement agencies?

"Secure Communities" is a common-sense program administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It does not add any new duties to local or state law enforcement, and it does not cost local taxpayers a dime.

The program simply adds more information from a federal database, and the information sharing is a two-way process between federal law enforcement and their state and local counterparts. When local police arrest someone for a serious crime, the suspect is booked and his or her biometric data (a/k/a fingerprints) are now routinely submitted to the state's Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS). The state sends that information to the FBI to see if there are warrants for the individual for federal crimes or crimes in other states.

"Secure Communities" would simply add another step in this system by sharing the biometric data with the immigration database maintained by ICE. If the arrestee is also a person of interest for serious violations of federal immigration law or is wanted for crimes in other countries, ICE agents could then take action to initiate deportation or other federal sanctions.

The program does not involve profiling - a subjective process that can be flagrantly discriminatory based on racial or ethnic appearance. The subject has to have committed a serious crime or, at least, be accused and arrested for a serious crime. Giving this tool to our local police departments would, as it has in the City of Boston and 42 other participating states, helps take very bad people off our streets and, often, out of our country!

Gov. Deval Patrick, last December, decided to make the program available to law enforcement in Massachusetts. However, after protests by some immigration advocates, he suspended approval pending "public hearings." There is no reason to delay joining the program that every state must join by 2013. At the very least, the governor should allow interested police agencies to opt into the program immediately in order to enhance public safety in their jurisdictions.

It's time to secure our communities without further delay!

- SEN. RICHARD T. MOORE

State Sen. Richard T. Moore is a Democrat from Uxbridge representing the Worcester & Norfolk district.

http://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion ... ommunities