CHIEF BRATTON ENDANGERES PUBLIC SAFETY BY PROTECTING ILLEGAL ALIEN GANG MEMBERS WITH SPECIAL ORDER 40.
Chief Bratton is opposed to turning illegal alien gang members over to the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- formerly INS) for deportation -- BEFORE THEY COMMIT THEIR NEXT CRIME!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS REGARDING SPECIAL ORDER 40
Q: What is Special Order 40?
A: "Special Order 40"is not a law, but a police mandate that originated in 1979 by former Police Chief Gates and the L.A. City Council to prevent police from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees. The LAPD rightfully argues that without Special Order 40, innocent undocumented immigrant witnesses and victims would lose the trust of the LAPD and would not report crimes for fear of being deported. But Chief, in case you didn't know it, gang members are not innocent undocumented immigrant witnesses or victims
Q: With Special Order 40 in place, do innocent undocumented immigrant witnesses or victims report crime?
A: Chief Bratton would like to think so, but they don't. But not out of fear of the LAPD. They do not report crime out of fear of retaliation by gang members for testifying (even documented immigrants and U.S. citizens are intimidated by gang members).
Q: Can the LAPD enforce immigration law?
A: Yes, but they don't have to. Many point to a federal court order which invalidated Proposition 187 on the grounds that local police could not lawfully enforce immigration law. But on October 4, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a landmark decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (USA v VASQUEZ-ALVAREZ), confirming that state and local law enforcement officials are free to arrest criminals solely on the basis of illegally being in the U.S. This ruling finally put to rest any question that local governments have about their authority to join the federal government in the fight against illegal alien criminals.
Q: Even though the LAPD may enforce immigration law, why should the LAPD enforce federal immigration laws if they have higher law enforcement priorities to which to attend?
A: The LAPD does not have to enforce immigration law, they just have to turn illegal alien gang members over to the ICE and leave the enforcement to them.
Q: If the LAPD turns gang members over to the ICE, won't they just come back to Los Angeles anyway?
A: Just because the ICE doesn't do their job, doesn't mean that the LAPD shouldn't do theirs. Gang members return to L.A. because they know that Chief Bratton doesn't care. Instead of passing the blame buck to the ICE, Chief Bratton should publicly lobby the ICE to do their job.
Q. Didn't Chief Bratton and Mayor Hahn visit federal leaders in seeking help in fighting gang crime.
A. Yes, but they went to Washington to do the only thing they know how to do -- ask for money! They NEVER have asked the ICE to help Los Angeles in its war against gang crime.
Q: Without Special Order 40, wouldn't racist LAPD officers abuse their power and target Hispanics immigrants?
A: The LAPD, with over 40 percent of its officers being minorities, is the most immigrant friendly police department in the country. If police abuse exsists, fix the cops, but don't take away a valuable tool to fight gangs. Chief Bratton could ammend Special Order 40 with the stroke of a pen to apply only to gang member suspects when there is probable cause.
Q: In this country, we assume suspects to be innocent until proven guilty. Won't the LAPD be violating gang members' rights by simply determining their immigration status for turnover to the ICE if they haven't been charged with a crime?
A: If the City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo can place injunctions on gang members not to congregate in certain places, who have not been charged with crimes, he should have no qualms about turning known illegal alien gang members over to the ICE.
Q: Are most gang members illegal aliens?
A: Yes. Strong evidence points to the probability that most gang members are illegal aliens, A 1997 L.A. Times three part series on the 18th street gang stated that out of the membership estimated to be as high as 20,000, about 60% of them are illegal immigrants, according to a confidential report by the state Department of Justice. Its primary recruitment targets: immigrant youngsters -- and that's just one gang. And according to the L.A. Daily News, Sheriff Baca's own study estimated that 38,748 county inmates (23 percent of the jail population) are illegal aliens who will cost the county an estimated annual jail housing cost of $150 million.
Q: Why weren't all those illegal alien county inmates turned over to the ICE before they had a chance to commit their crimes?
A: Because just like the LAPD, the sheriff's department has the same policy of not determining criminals' immigration status.
Q: Has any other law enforcement entity asked the ICE for help in deporting illegal alien gang members?
A. Yes. The the City of Anaheim has a part time ICE agent three times per day in their department whose job it is to take illegal alien criminal suspects off the Anaheim police's hands and re-arrest them for deportation -- even if they are not charged with a crime. The program has resulted in a significant crime reduction.
Q: The LAPD and the Sheriff's Dept tell us that they do in fact turn illegal alien suspect over to the ICE. Is this true?
A: The LAPD and the Sheriff Dept sometimes turn suspects over to the ICE, but only after they have been charged with a crime. This is like buying insurance after the accident.
Q: If the LAPD rounds up illegal alien gang members for turnover to the ICE, wouldn't this be targeting Hispanics?
A: No. It would be targeting illegal alien gang members. The fact that the majority of illegal alien gang members are Hispanic, is linked to the area's demography.
Q: If the LAPD turned illegal alien gang members over to the ICE, wouldn't this create a panic in the Latino community?
A: No. The only ones who would panic, are illegal alien gang members. As a former Van Nuys block captain, I can tell you that the Latino community, legal or illegal, want illegal alien gang members deported as much as anyone. To assume otherwise, is an insult to law abiding Hispanics.
Q: What could Chief Bratton do to fix the problem?
A: Chief Batton is the only person empowered to repeal, amend, or modify police orders. He should modify Special Order 40 to exclude known and identified gang members.
Q: How much would the repeal or modification of Special Order 40 reduce gang crime?
Probably by 50 percent. Los Angeles needs less criminals more than it needs more cops. Violent crime would be reduced significantly overnight.
Q: So why doesn't Chief Bratton take steps to repeal or modify Special Order 40?
A: Chief Bratton does not show leadership. He showed his lack of leadership when he told me at a town hall meeting in Encino on December 16, 2002, that the city council wanted Special Order 40 and he could work around it.
