Thread: Cop: 'We're basically policing Mexico'

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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. advertisement




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?

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