Thread: Police should work with, not impersonate, Border Patrol,SDUT

S.D.U.T. EDITORIAL

State, local police should work with, not impersonate, Border Patrol

February 3, 2009

- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has a lot of work to do, weighty duties to take on, and much to prove, especially on the immigration issue. Napolitano will supervise the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Many Americans will be watching closely to see how Napolitano goes about securing the nation's borders and whether she keeps up the drumbeat of her predecessor, Michael Chertoff, in pushing for legal status for the undocumented as a way of tracking who is in the country and for what purpose.

Those things are important. We share Napolitano's skepticism about fencing and her support for comprehensive immigration reform, and we hope she puts both to good use as head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Napolitano also is in a unique position to spell out in detail what role if any local and state agencies could play in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. This remains a controversial and divisive issue, with some police departments eagerly jumping into the fray by apprehending illegal immigrants while other departments want nothing to do with that kind of work.

We tend to agree with the latter approach. Blurring the line between jurisdictions is not a good idea. Making illegal immigrants fearful of all law enforcement makes them reluctant to go to police to report crimes committed against them. In that way, a policy intended to round up lawbreakers could lead to the breaking of more laws. It is no wonder that the San Diego Police Department, and hundreds of other departments around the country, have decided to leave the enforcement of immigration laws to their federal brethren.

We are no more enamored, however, of the approach proposed by the extreme left, which wants local and state authorities to completely disengage from the issue and shun federal immigration authorities. There should be open channels of communication between the jurisdictions. And, if local and state law enforcement officers come across illegal immigrants during the course of their normal duties, then, by all means, they should hand them over to federal officials. They shouldn't impersonate Border Patrol agents, but they should work with them.

Napolitano has the skills to sort this out since, in her previous job as Arizona governor, she had to wrestle with the issue of competing jurisdictions, thanks to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who tried to exploit the immigration issue for political purposes. In 2006, Napolitano and Arpaio penned a letter to Chertoff complaining that officials with the U.S. immigration enforcement office in Phoenix were refusing to pick up illegal immigrants apprehended by Arpaio's deputies. But Napolitano and Arpaio parted ways and the governor took away $1.6 million in state funds slated for Arpaio's department to help him fight illegal immigration.

Because of her experiences, Janet Napolitano probably has very strong opinions about whether and under what circumstances local and state agencies should enforce federal immigration law and the proper relationship between various agencies. We look forward to seeing how she puts them into practice.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... ?uniontrib

Police deal with federal crimes all the time without having the Federal officers present. They will consult with them and work with them, but to think they ignore them because it's "not my job" is insane. Heck, as a simple civilian, I have done Police work that I'm not paid to do, trained to do or qualified to do. Every time you have to ask for ID to buy cigarettes or alcohol, I'm doing Police work to keep someone from the breaking the law, and if I don't, or let it slide when a sting is going on......I'm in trouble. Every little mark on your money to see if it's counterfit, I'm doing something that falls in law enforcements camp. Every Dr. and daycare worker and citizen is responsible for reporting suspected child abuse etc......it atleast draws attention and allows the proper authorities to have a chance to respond. To think it's a free for all out there and no one can be detained or asked anything unless the proper officer is there to catch it themselves is insane. I can get a ticket because a camera took a picture of my car....whether I was driving or not. No police, no civilian calling in reporting me, nothing. They have to work together or else they are pretty much useless since there's not enough to go around..........let alone the exact perfect one present.


Plus the word impersonate.......that's going to extreem. They'd be impersonating a border agent if they wore the uniform and claimed to be someone other than who they were.

Police should work with and not impersonate Border Patrol, and that's exactly what they do! Anytime an issue arises that requires a federal agent the BP is called in, simple like that! Local police cannot simply stand by and do nothing when they know a crime as been committed.
The fact that someone in this country illegally may be afraid to go to the police tells me that they know they have broken the law themselves and it's time for them to realize that they are responsible for their own actions.
I don't care who you are or where your from, you simply do not have the right to break the law! And if you do you shouldn't be surprized when people get upset and want you thrown in jail.
How hard is that to understand?