Montgomery police chief isn’t interested in immigration training

Sep 21, 2007 3:00 AM (21 hrs ago)
by Kathleen Miller, The Examiner

Montgomery County (Map, News) - Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger says his officers won’t take immigration law enforcement training, unlike police in some Virginia areas, because he believes county police resources are better spent elsewhere.

Members of the anti-illegal immigration group Help Save Maryland on Wednesday night asked Manger to obtain immigration training for officers, telling him they believed it would make Montgomery County a safer place to live. Under a program called 287(g), the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement trains local law enforcement to initiate deportation proceedings for criminal illegal aliens. Virginia’s Prince William, Shenandoah, Rockingham counties and the town of Herndon already have adopted the program, and Loudoun and Culpeper counties have expressed interest in it.

“The training is not something I can do at roll call,â€