Time to revisit Special Order 40?
- CON -

The core values of the Los Angeles Police Department stress, in part, the importance of treating all people with respect and dignity. Integral to our mission is to protect victims from criminals who prey upon the weak or terrorize communities. The immigration status of a crime victim or witness is of no concern to the department, nor should it be.

However, the immigration status of a criminal - gang member or otherwise - suspected of residing in this country illegally is a concern.

Over the past year, 10 full-time Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have worked closely with LAPD gang officers and detectives to identify active adult gang members who are committing crimes in the San Fernando Valley. The cooperation between the department and ICE has resulted in more than 100 criminals in the San Fernando Valley being arrested by ICE for various immigration violations.

Nothing in Special Order 40 prohibits this cooperative relationship, and those arrests have helped the LAPD by improving the safety of our communities.

The LAPD will not focus its enforcement efforts on individuals whose only violation is entering the country illegally. Those individuals are the ones most often preyed upon by violent gang members, and need to be assured that the LAPD can be trusted to take their crime reports or witness statements without fear that an officer is going to ask them their immigration status. Special Order 40 provides that assurance. Yet somehow there is at least a partially held belief that our officers cannot question gang members, who are committing crimes, about their immigration status. We recognize there is a disconnect between what is being done by our officers and what people believe is not being done.

A measure introduced by Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine to make changes to Special Order 40, identifies the need for more LAPD communication with public officials regarding department policy and protocols for dealing with undocumented aliens. This important goal can be achieved, however, without undermining the critical public-safety protections that Special Order 40 has provided for nearly three decades. Indeed, during the coming weeks, as part of the department's Standardized Roll Call Training Program, all LAPD employees will receive an updated overview of Special Order 40 to ensure consistent application of the policy.

Although department policy prohibits officers from initiating a police action solely to determine the immigration status of an individual, it does not prohibit officers from investigating active criminal gang members. Those individuals are under our scrutiny in the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere in the city. They are also under the scrutiny of ICE agents.

Special Order 40 does not need to be changed to allow the LAPD to effectively focus on those gang members who are violent and prey upon their own communities.

Michel R. Moore is deputy chief and commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's San Fernando Valley Bureau.

http://www.dailynews.com/editorial/ci_9063628