Thread: Cop: ‘We’re basically policing Mexico’

Cop: 'We're basically policing Mexico'
Oct. 14, 2007 12:00 AM

A caller identifying himself as a Phoenix police officer left a message on my voice mail last week and the chilling gist of it was this: "We're basically policing Mexico."

But that's not all of it, and he deserves to have you hear the whole thing.

After all, the police chief has had his say about using officers to enforce immigration law. And the head of the police union has had his say. And the politicians have had their say. And a whole lot of hacks like me have had our say.

The cop left his comments after the head of the Phoenix police union asked the chief to change department policy in a way that would allow officers to report suspected undocumented immigrants to federal authorities. He asked that officers be permitted to do so when such a person was contacted during a traffic stop, a misdemeanor offense, a domestic-relations call or if he were an investigative lead.

Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said he would consider it, but added, "That would leave us tied up with immigration work instead of doing criminal law enforcement."

I contacted Gov. Janet Napolitano's office to see where she stood when it comes to using local police to enforce federal immigration law. Her answers were noncommittal, the way most politicians approach this problem, afraid that they might offend an already angry public. The column that included comments from the governor's spokeswoman led to this message on my voice mail. Since we so seldom hear what officers like this have to say, I'll let him speak without interruption. It begins:

"Hey Ed. I'm a Phoenix police officer. Pretty good article today (Oct. 11). Not too bad. I just want to comment on it briefly, something that nobody's really pointed out yet, I don't think.

"When you contacted that spokesperson for the Governor's Office and she said if every single police officer was doing primary immigration enforcement, what else would they be doing? You know, they'd be too busy. Well, the thing that our union wants to try to point out is that in Maryvale or the central city precincts, some of these other precincts, we can go a 40-hour workweek and never deal with a citizen.

"We don't want to do primary immigration enforcement; we just want to have our policy changed so that it's a tool that we can use for specific investigations. It's just another tool that we can have when dealing with criminal activity.

"But the street cop, every single call the street cop is going to involves illegal immigrants, for the most part, in the central city. Whether it's a big problem or a small problem.

"So, what are we doing now? We're basically policing Mexico.

"I know that Harris says we need the police officers to go after violent criminals. Well, we can't go after violent criminals because every single radio call we go on, every call for service, involves illegal immigrants. You know. I mean, we just . . . it's crazy.

"And we're not saying, OK, if every call involves illegal immigrants that we need to start deporting them.

"That's not it. Hey, we just want another tool to help us with investigations.

"And help with DUIs, too. I mean, that could be considered kind of an endangerment, a misdemeanor-type crime that involves illegals."

(By now the voice mail was telling him the two-minute limit on messages was approaching.)

"Anyway," he said, "thanks a lot, bye."

The cop was calmer than most of us would be if we had to deal with this problem on the street while answering to those in ivory towers. And if he's right, if officers are being made to police Mexico here in the U.S., then couldn't the rest of us at least police the politicians?


Reach Montini at (602) 444-8978 or ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com. Read his blog at montiniblog.azcentral.com.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/a ... i1014.html

I've heard a very similar story from our local cops.

Dixie

Adding to this thread since it's the same police dept.
~~~

Migrant-crime figures obscure the big picture
Oct. 20, 2007 12:00 AM

The Valley's police chiefs are fond of telling us that to do their jobs, they must have the public's trust. I'm guessing it wouldn't hurt to have the trust of the men and women they send onto the streets either.

The ones I've talked to this week are, well, let's just say they are unimpressed with the stats and excuses being trotted out by their bosses for why they can't do anything about people here illegally.

"Trust me, Laurie, the problem is totally out of control," said one Mesa officer, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. "The numbers are totally out of proportion, and all (Phoenix Police Chief Jack) Harris and (Mesa Police Chief George) Gascón do is say there is no more crime committed than by the general population. The statement is not true, and we should be doing our jobs and contacting ICE when appropriate." advertisement




It is not, as the chiefs would tell us, just the "gasbags" of talk radio who are upset at what's going on around here. It's street cops. It's people like the east Phoenix furniture-store owner who believes the day laborers hanging about are driving his customers away. It's people like Connie Hoey, 60, who was hit recently by an undocumented immigrant who had no driver's license and no insurance.

Because she's disabled and on AHCCCS (the state's health-care program for indigents), we'll pay her medical bills. As for her van, she can't afford the $500 deductible to get it fixed, so she'll just have to fasten her hood with a bungee cord and live with the oil leak and the shimmy.

"It's just not right," she said.

The chiefs say it's a matter of priorities and resources, that they can't turn their officers into immigration agents because they'd have no time to get the bad guys who, they point out, are more than likely legal residents.

"The typical undocumented immigrant," Gascón recently noted, "is not any more likely to kill, assault, rob or steal from others than the rest of us."

I'm not sure how he knows that. A Mesa police spokesman told me Thursday that the department doesn't even ask the immigration status of people they arrest, much less track it.

Most studies on the subject lump all Hispanics together, assuming there is no difference in the behavior of those who are entitled to be here and those who aren't.

In fact, I know of no definitive research into whether illegal immigrants commit a disproportionate amount of crime. The closest would be an ASU study done a couple of years ago that concluded that only 4 percent of those arrested in Maricopa County are here illegally, compared with nearly 11 percent in Los Angeles.

"It's an issue here, but it's not out of control. And when you compare it to other cities, we have a moderate-sized problem," Charles Katz, an associate professor of criminal justice at Arizona State University, told me. "LA is worst, followed by places like Denver and Laredo and San Diego, and we're a little bit worse than Houston and Tucson and San Antonio. But it's not like we're leading the nation on this issue."

The 2000-2003 study included only inmates who agreed to take part and relied solely on inmates reporting their immigration status.

Regardless, the question isn't really whether illegal immigrants commit more crimes than the rest of us. The question is, are the police able to protect and serve the community, as they're supposed to?

The ones I've talked to - both current and retired officers who say they are stretched thin because of illegal immigration - say that no, they can't and won't be able to.

Not as long as the chiefs continue to cozy up to the politicians who are calling the shots.

www.azcentral.com

Everyone is missing the real point here. That is...why does even one American citizen need to suffer a crime of any type at the hands of an illegal alien? These are people who are not allowed by our laws to be here, much leain is...ss operate here and commit crimes. So, the question again is - WHY DOES EVEN ONE AMERICAN CITIZEN HAVE TO SUFFER A CRIME CAUSED BY AN ILLEGAL ALIEN???

Phoenix cops don't want to be agents

http://www.azcentral.com
Oct. 23, 2007 12:00 AM

Earlier this month, the head of the Phoenix police union said something that had people believing that he wants to transform city cops into immigration agents or Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies. Or both.

Mark Spencer, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, asked Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris to change department policy in a way that would allow officers more leeway when it comes to dealing with suspected illegal immigrants.

Those who support Sheriff Joe Arpaio's decision to have his deputies perform the duties of immigration agents were thrilled by the request, believing that Spencer wants Phoenix officers to follow the sheriff's lead. Those who oppose the idea were horrified and quick to condemn Spencer. advertisement




What neither side seemed to do, however, was ask Spencer directly if that was his plan. So, when I got him on the telephone a few days ago, that's what I did.

"Do you want Phoenix police officers to become sheriff's deputies?" I asked.

"No," Spencer said. "I would say the sheriff is focused on active enforcement of immigration laws. All we'd like is the ability to contact ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) based on reasonable suspicion. And let them take enforcement. Let them make the determination. Sheriff Joe's guys are engaged in routine immigration enforcement. We don't want that."

Spencer added that his union agrees with much of current department policy. What Phoenix police officers would like, he said, is the same discretion that they have when they come upon probation or parole violators.

"We don't go out and look for probation and parole violators," Spencer said. "In the normal course of our duties we come across them, and when we find out that they are on probation and parole we contact the PO (probation officer). And the PO makes the decision to put a hold on him or not."

Spencer believes that officials in the department and city government need to listen more to officers on the streets.

"It's easy to formulate policies," he said. "It's another thing to live and carry the burden of those policies. I think that our men and women on the street, who risk their lives daily, have earned the right to be heard. I don't think they're being flippant. I don't think they're being unreasonable."

He called the discretion to contact ICE "a tool for us."

Those who question the wisdom of giving officers such a "tool" worry about how it would be used. And for good reason. No doubt that some officers would be overzealous while others might seem to be too lenient.

Then again, that's true already. While departments strive for consistent enforcement, officers are people, and people have differing sensibilities. As for the notion that some might use greater immigration authority to target an ethnic group, Spencer said, "Where our officers are coming from is an ethical commitment of enforcement of the law." He said that those who set department policy need to trust officers to rise "above the pettiness, the wrongness and the shortsightedness of racism."

All that he is asking for, Spencer said, is a small change in the wording of department policy permitting officers to contact ICE.

"From 'will not' to 'may,' " he said.

It doesn't seem like much. But it is.

At the same time, I'd guess and none of us would argue against the most important point Spencer makes when it comes to giving officers a little latitude on this: They've earned it.



Reach Montini at 602-444-8978 or ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.