Thread: A fragile trust may be at risk

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 1104a.html


Sherry Jacobson:
A fragile trust may be at risk

05:25 AM CDT on Monday, October 9, 2006


It's a very big deal in Oak Cliff that ice cream vendors are carrying cellphones now, easily linking them to 911.

Since the phones were handed out in July, far fewer vendors have been robbed.

The cellphone program also signals the improving relationship between the city's Spanish-speaking community and the Dallas Police Department.

"We're moving in a positive direction," said Gerardo Monreal, the police officer who dreamed up the idea of giving refurbished phones to vendors who are vulnerable to robberies and violent attacks. There have been two killings in recent years. (The phones can dial only 911.)

So Officer Monreal and his colleagues understandably are concerned about the growing pressure to make local police officers enforce federal immigration laws in the immigrant communities where they are trying to build trust.

Although Dallas has not entertained the change yet, Houston police announced last week that they would begin assisting federal efforts to identify illegal immigrants involved in crimes.

Officials in Farmers Branch and Irving also are considering whether to enroll in a federal initiative that trains local police officers in how to process and detain illegal immigrants.

This may sound like a good idea to someone not involved in law enforcement. But it's a dramatic change for Dallas police, who have tried hard in recent years to win the trust of the city's growing immigrant population.

"We're very sensitive to the needs of our Spanish-speaking community," said Deputy Chief Vince Golbeck, who oversees the Dallas department's southwest sector, which has a sizable Hispanic population.

"When we attend their meetings, we are careful to park our cars in the back so that we don't scare people away," he said. "You don't want that intimidation factor."

Deputy Chief Golbeck said he was neutral on the idea of Dallas police becoming proactive in immigration enforcement. But he wondered if such a change would harm the department's fragile relationship with immigrants.

"These people are so fearful of police because of the culture they were raised in and because they might be living here illegally," he said. "We've tried to build partnerships so that they will report crime and give us a better chance to solve it."

Under Dallas' current policy, illegal immigration is the responsibility of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

The city's policy states: "Dallas police officers do not have authority to enforce U.S. immigration law. Persons will not be stopped or contacted for the sole purpose of determining their citizens status for U.S. immigration law violations."

However, people who are arrested in Dallas must document their legal status, as they are booked into the Dallas County Jail. Immigration officers, not local police, handle that aspect of the arrest.

To cops on the street, even asking immigrants about their legal status would represent a dramatic shift in their work.

"We've told these immigrants over and over again that we have nothing to do with immigration," said Officer Monreal, who speaks Spanish and has been on the Dallas force for a decade. "If we start asking for documents, it may destroy our efforts to protect these people."

Try to imagine what would happen if a large portion of Dallas never called the police when serious crimes occurred. Houses would be broken into and people would be robbed, while the perpetrators ran free.

The best way to resolve it would be to continue to have only the federal government worry about illegal immigrants and allow local police to build bridges to communities that are so easily victimized by crime.

Let's keep them dialing 911.

E-mail sjacobson@dallasnews.com



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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 1104a.html

"These people are so fearful of police because of the culture they were raised in and because they might be living here illegally," he said. "We've tried to build partnerships so that they will report crime and give us a better chance to solve it."

Try this.....if they weren't HERE....there would be no crime for them to report. I am sick of all this sensitivity BS. I don't buy this. I think they don't report it for fear of retribution from the perps., not the police.

They shouldn't be expected to trust our police. They are criminals. Send them home and let them trust or distrust their own police.

Hmmm? Which laws should we enforce?....Like that one...don't like that one...that one I need to think about?

That's called anarchy.

D.W.

"We're very sensitive to the needs of our Spanish-speaking community," said Deputy Chief Vince Golbeck, who oversees the Dallas department's southwest sector, which has a sizable Hispanic population.

Might be a good idea to be VERY SENSITIVE TO AMERICANS, don't ya think?