Thread: CA: Police might work with Border patrol

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nort ... atrol.html

Chief raised concerns over proposed change
By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 3, 2007

ESCONDIDO – The Escondido City Council could be about to dive into another illegal immigration controversy.

On Wednesday, Escondido Police Chief Jim Maher is scheduled to present a revised police policy to the council – one that, based on his earlier comments, he disagrees with.

The policy would include inviting the Border Patrol to work with Escondido police at routine DUI, driver's license and seat belt checkpoints, as well as during other operations, such as prostitution sweeps.

Maher was asked to revise the policy by City Councilman Sam Abed, who yesterday said the policy would “aggressively” encourage the deportation of illegal immigrants “who commit crimes in our city – anything from major crimes to domestic violence to driving under the influence to driving without a license and to driving without insurance.”
If approved, Escondido police would be the only law enforcement agency in the county with such a policy, a survey by The San Diego Union-Tribune found.

Maher and most city officials have declined to comment on exactly what the chief will present Wednesday. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

The first public hint of what the council was considering surfaced Jan. 17 during a workshop, at which Maher questioned the policy he was being asked to craft.

“My concern is that the (illegal immigrant) community would see us as an extension of the Border Patrol and would never want anything to do with us,” he told the council. In an interview, Maher said illegal immigrants living in the city wouldn't want to cooperate with the police in any situation, including filing crime reports or acting as witnesses, out of fear of deportation.


The role of police
In recent years, the department has tried to build trust with the city's large Latino population, through workshops and by sending officers and the department's mobile crime lab to predominantly Latino neighborhoods and offering tours.
Abed, however, said even if the chief recommended against enacting the policy, he believed he has the support of the majority of the council to make it official.

“Our goal is to reduce crime, and we are looking at an aggressive policy,” Abed said. “ . . . We suspect that a substantial number of illegals are contributing to this safety situation. We are not going to tolerate illegals who commit crimes in our city.”

Abed, along with council members Marie Waldron and Ed Gallo, voted to enact an ordinance last year that fined landlords who rented to illegal immigrants. The ordinance drew national attention and sparked large protests.

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged it in federal court. Faced with massive legal bills, and the likely outcome that the ordinance would be declared unconstitutional, the council reluctantly abandoned it.

But all three council members said they would be coming back with new ways to combat illegal immigration.

Yesterday, Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler said she would vote against any policy that asked the Border Patrol to work with police at checkpoints.

“I will be against such a policy because I want the police department to work on criminal activity, arresting people and patrolling the street,” Pfeiler said.

She said she wanted the police to be allowed to do its job without political interference. District Attorney “Bonnie Dumanis says only seven percent of the criminals in the county are illegal (immigrants). I'd rather we focus on the big problem – the 93 percent,” she said.


'Troubling' proposal
David Blair-Loy, legal director of the ACLU's San Diego affiliate, said his organization has not taken a stance on the proposed police policy because it had not been established. But as a proposal, he said, it is “immensely troubling.”
“Law enforcement depends on community trust,” Blair-Loy said. “People will be afraid to report crimes. It would endanger public safety by destroying hard-earned trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement.”

Blair-Loy had no idea whether such a policy would be legal, he said, and the ACLU will look closely at what is enacted by the Escondido council.

Abed dismissed the ACLU yesterday. “I am against the ACLU because they are a very liberal organization that is promoting open borders and they don't care about the safety and quality of the lives of our citizens,” he said.


Immigration checks
No police agency in the county has a policy requiring contact with federal immigration authorities during routine operations, though a police agency usually will when someone is arrested for a serious crime, or if there is concern a suspect might flee the country.
“We typically don't check immigration status,” San Diego police spokeswoman Monica Muñoz said. “The only time it comes into play is in a criminal situation.”

A Sheriff's Department spokesman said deputies never asked the Border Patrol for assistance at DUI checkpoints and didn't anticipate doing so.

“We don't enforce federal laws,” said Chula Vista police spokesman Bernard Gonzales. “If we encounter someone who committed a crime and they are a foreign national, we will call federal agents. But if it's something like a traffic citation or jaywalking, we wouldn't.”

At times, agencies will invite Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol agents to assist them in gang sweeps or increased-enforcement patrols, such as in Vista last summer.

Carlsbad Lt. Kelly Cain said the Border Patrol had increased its operations in North County recently and has offered local police agencies its assistance, including looking up suspects' names in databases or responding as a backup during traffic stops. Police do not have access to federal databases that show immigration status.

The Border Patrol has not taken a position about the proposed Escondido policy.

“Until a formal presentation of a plan has been made, the Border Patrol won't have any comment on this,” spokesman Robert Harvey said.

this sounds like a good proposal. BP needs to start now. In addition theBP would have backup which they don't have now.

Out where I live BP backs up the Sheriff all the time, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work both ways.

Escondido keeps trying bless their hearts.
Seems like a no-brainer to me. BP with police, further inland ICE with police. They are all law enforcement officials expected to enforce our laws right? Even Jorge says we're a nation of laws so let our officers enforce them, darn it, and back them up when they do their jobs.