07/27/06 - Elgin Police Chief plays a dangerous game of dodge the answers

Obviously Chief Womack will tell the city council, Elgin Residents and the Latino's in attendance at Wednesdays meeting, anything they want to hear.

Quoting from today's Daily Herald story about Wednesday night's meeting, the reporter quoted the chief in this statement:

“We can forward all the information we have,” she said. “It’s a matter of what they follow up on.” Making it sound as though you only have to ask.

In December last year, I personally sent an FOIA addressed TO the Chief, and asked the following question:

How Many citiations were issued by Elgin PD officers to undocumented or unlicensed persons in the years 2003-2004?

The Department's response was: I am unclear as to what you mean by undocumented.

Another question in that same FOIA request: Also for the years 2003 and 2004, of all violent crimes to persons in Elgin, what is the breakdown of the people committing these crimes? (White, Hispanic, Asian, Black etc..)

The Department's response was: We do not collect statistical data that way.

I thought I was pretty straight forward in my questions and frankly, 6th graders know what the word "undocumented" means, but the City of Elgin doesn't?? This is how they dodge the issue of not doing anything. Until someone dies in this town at the hands of an illegal immigrant, people won't get off their couches and or watch that Tivo'd version of the board meeting that plays over and over again on Comcast for Elgin residents.

View Elgin's FOIA response to me here

More later.


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07/27/06 - More on last night's Elgin City Council meeting...

Elgin Chief: We don't report illegals' DUI's to Feds .

What? In an article appearing in the Courier News today, Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack told reporter Nathan Zimmer "Police did inform federal authorities about drunken driving cases involving potential illegals until about five years ago, when they were told agents no longer would be pursuing such cases". She did mention however that as early as 13 YEARS AGO, they had worked with INS when it deported 118 gang-members. She wasn't the Chief back then though.

This an area where the Elgin police department should be making SPECIAL EFFORT considering recent area deaths by "illegals drinking and driving"! If they're not deported, then why aren't more imprisoned? We realize that the courts are partly to blame as well, but this effort must start with law enforcement.

It basically boils down once again to the advantage of illegal vs.citizen. Illegals can have as many traffic violations as they want. They don't NEED car insurance unless they get caught, (and even then in most cases, it'll turn out to be a bogus policy issued) and being "undocumented", they change their names on a weekly basis adding hyphenations to an already false name. Who's to know any better? They are, of course, "undocumented".

Citizens have their licenses suspended after 3 moving violations, (2 if you're under 21) and then revoked if you're a repeat offender. Commit a serious crime, and you go to jail...period.

The biggest thing illegal's laugh at us about, is that we actually pay our police (through taxes) to do (or not do) these things.

It's a great country America.

Chief Womack also said in the meeting that it is indicated on an arrest report that a person is "undocumented", or suspected to be here illegally. In this report of an unlicensed driver who almost hit officers directing traffic last week at Big Timber and Randall Roads, there is no indication whatsoever of this person's immigration status, although it is suspected that he is illegal.

Take a look at the reports yourself and please email me if you see something I'm missing. Also note they release his vehicle to him after he apparently provided a receipt of some kind that showed a policy number "pending". Pending citizenship?
Why does Elgin Police Department have to wait for an illegal to kill someone, before they take them off the streets of our town???

View Report 1
View Report 2 (tow report)

(these reports were obtained via the Freedom of Information Act)


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07/26/06 - Elgin City Council Meeting


Elgin Police Chief Lisa Womack copped out (no pun intended) when she told the Mayor, Council Members and those who managed to get in for the meeting, that they were doing all they could to deal with illegal immigration in town. No time for rebuttal

or questions was given so end of story......for tonight anyway.

Elgin police also did a horrible job of keeping the entryway of city hall clear for people who wanted to attend the meeting. One handicapped person had to take the long way around the lot to get to the door because the Latinos thought it was a festival of some sort. There were more children than there were adults, and they were laying anywhere they wanted, sidewalks, parking lot, laying on cars and in their lounge chairs, intentionally making it difficult for people to get to the meeting, and Elgin police officers in the lot (2), stayed in the lot.

While inside waiting to talk to someone about getting in to attend the meeting, a police officer walked right past me, opened door and yelled "we have room for 3 more!", as if it were a South Elgin restaurant on a Friday night. Enter....3 more Latinos. I guess I missed the sign somewhere saying "Long-Time, tax paying Elgin residents
not welcome at this meeting".

See you next Monday at 6:45 sharp at the American Legion. We WILL continue this topic then. We'll also make sure to get into the next Council meeting in 2 weeks. This problem of illegals isn't going away, and apparently neither are they.

(photos by Bill O'Neill)