Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said Tuesday the LAPD must stay out of the business of collaring illegal immigrants if it wants to keep solving crimes.
Bratton, who ends his seven years as chief Saturday, urged his eventual successor to continue a three-decade-old policy known as Special Order 40. It prohibits officers from stopping people solely to determine whether they are in the country illegally.
"My officers can't prevent or solve crimes if victims or witnesses are unwilling to talk to us because of the fear of being deported," Bratton said in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times.
Bratton said police were able to arrest a suspect in the March murder of a homeless man because an undocumented immigrant who witnessed the attack came forward.
In 2006, Harold Sturgeon filed a lawsuit against the department on behalf of taxpayers, claiming the 1979 policy violates state and federal law by prohibiting full cooperation between police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
A California Court of Appeals panel upheld the policy in June. Bratton said some residents have asked why the LAPD has not joined a Homeland Security program, known as 287(g), that gives some local and state police officers the powers of federal immigration agents. Dozens of agencies have joined in the controversial program.
Bratton said getting the public to report crimes and identify criminals helps improve community relations.
"Breeding fear and distrust of authority among some of our children could increase rates of crime, violence and disorder as those children grow up to become fearful and distrustful adolescents and adults," he said. "That is why the Los Angeles Police Department has not participated in 287(g) and the federal government is not pressuring the department to do so."
"Americans want a solution to our immigration dilemma, as do law enforcement officials across this nation. But the solution isn't turning every local police department into an arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement," Bratton said.
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said her agency has worked well with Los Angeles police during Bratton's tenure.
"And we look forward to continuing to collaborate with the LAPD on investigations and enforcement activities that further our respective missions, including efforts to target violent street gangs and human trafficking organizations," Kice said in a statement.
She noted that several Southern California sheriff's departments are involved in the federal program but it is used exclusively in jails.
Deputies in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino are authorized to screen jail inmates to determine if they can be deported, Kice said.
"These are people who have already been arrested" on suspicion of local crimes, Kice said, and typically, immigration cases are not pursued until their criminal cases are completed.
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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com
Source: AP News
