Frederick M.D., County Police Differ on Illegal Immigration
Frederick city, county police differ on illegal immigration:
United Democrats' presentation stresses philosophical differences.
by Katherine Heerbrandt | Staff Writer
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Frederick city police officers are not trained in immigration law, but they are responsible for arresting more than half of those who are deported out of the county through a controversial federal enforcement program.
But that is more a matter of demographics than policy. City police make more arrests than all other law enforcement agencies in Frederick County, according to Lt. Clark Pennington, the city police spokesman.
Once arrested for a crime, whether it is driving without a license or something more serious, the offender is processed through central booking at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center.
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office runs the detention center, and participates in 287g, the controversial federal program administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that gives local police authority to check the immigration status of those arrested.
If a person is in the country illegally, police turn them over to ICE for deportation proceedings.
With 120 officers and a city of 66,000 people, city police do not have the time or inclination to root out undocumented residents, according to Capt. Kevin Grubb.
"We are busy enough working to keep the crime rate low in the city," Grubb said at a meeting of United Democrats Frederick County Monday night.
Crime reports issued in February show major crimes in Frederick city are occurring at the lowest rate since 2005, and overall crime is at its lowest since 1991.
Grubb and Pennington were invited by the group as part of its Moving Frederick Forward series to discuss the city's approach to 287g.
Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins (R) was invited, but had a prior commitment. The group of about two dozen watched Jenkins' short video presentation on 287g.
Most of the questions Grubb and Pennington fielded centered on statistics showing that most of those ensnared by the 287g program have committed minor traffic offenses.
According to an article in The Gazette on Oct. 21, 761 people were arrested under 287g from 2008 through August. Of those, 694 were for misdemeanors, while 67 involved felonies. Of the 694 misdemeanors, 322 were driving without a license.
Jenkins makes no apology for that, and said in an interview after the Monday meeting that he would like to see larger numbers of illegal immigrants leave Frederick County.
"If I had my way, I would deport many more than we do," he said. :D
Grubb and Pennington stressed that although city police are responsible for most of the 287g arrests, the agency works hard to build trusting relationships with everyone in the city.
Those relationships, Grubb said, help police maintain low crime rates because police officers cannot do it alone. Without that trust, city police worry that crime in the illegal immigrant population will go unreported.
In an interview, Frederick Police Chief Kim Dine reinforced the agency's commitment to building trust with city residents.
"Our record of community policing and level of responsiveness is unmatched in dissecting issues of concern across the city," Dine said. "It is ongoing, apolitical, and shown to be extremely effective."
Jenkins and Dine have sparred in the past about the role of law enforcement and illegal immigration. Jenkins chalks it up to a "difference in philosophy," and would like to see city officers do more.
"I think what people want them to do is address the problems in specific neighborhoods, in areas heavily populated with people perceived to be illegal," Jenkins said. "That could be addressed more aggressively by city police."
Dine agreed that law enforcement has a role to play in the issue of illegal immigration, and his agency is doing its part. "We focus on people breaking the law in the City of Frederick," Dine said in an interview. "That is our mission. That doesn't mean that there is not a role for local law enforcement, and we are playing our role."
Douglas Rivlin, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Dist. 4) of Illinois, attended Monday's meeting to give a national perspective illegal immigration from his point of view.
Rivlin has been busy helping organize Gutierrez' Campaign for American Children and Families tour that aims to tell the stories of families whose lives have been turned upside down by deportation.
http://www.gazette.net/stories/04072011 ... _32547.php
