LAPD tell ICE to stop identifying themselves as police

[True Dough]

A representative with the DEA says members of that unit generally identify themselves as "DEA" not police.

Officials in Los Angeles have asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents working in the city not to identify themselves as police.

In a letter addressed to the ICE deputy field office director who handles immigration enforcement, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Attorney Mike Feuer, and president of the city council Herb Wesson wrote:

"In Los Angeles, the term 'police' is synonymous with the Los Angeles Police Department, so for ICE agents to represent themselves as police misleads the public into believing they are interacting with LAPD. This is especially corrosive given that to advance public safety, the LAPD does not initiate police action with the objective of determining a person's immigration status."

The letter cited reporting by the Los Angeles Times that described an agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, identifying him or herself as a police officer.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/24/517041101/los-angeles-officials-to-ice-stop-identifying-yourselves-as-police


But if things are going to change, they might want to consider taking "police" off the vests that ICE agents wear:

[N77VG]

1. Molehill Mountain

[hunter]

10. No, it's not. These fuckers are interfering with ordinary police work.

I swear, a lot of these ICE guys look like they flunked out of cop school because they were not smart enough or they were too racist.

Too racist is something pretty damned extreme considering most police in the U.S.A..

[N77VG]

19. Interfering? How so?

And are you suggesting that most of them are racist?

wow.

[hunter]

20. Oh yes I am. They are completely without honor.

Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."

Matthew 25:31-46

When they come pretending to be police to a place where most everyone knows someone whose documents are not in order, they make it more difficult for the REAL police to do their jobs.

And it doesn't help their cause when THEY LIE TO LOCAL POLICE about their motives.

[N77VG]

23. When we determine whether religion is the cause...or the result...of insanity

we might be able to cure both.
Jesus is still very dead and meaningless to a genuinely civil society.

[hunter]

24. Does it matter where the words come from?

The meaning is intrinsic to the words and you'll find the same ideals expressed in many faiths and ethical systems, in many different ways. Christianity is the common language of many Americans and I'm not going to apologize for speaking it.

It seems to me that many atheists raised in Fundamentalist Christian environments can't see that. They take the religion out of their own ethical systems but they still see everything in black and white, just as the Fundamentalists do. I was raised to see the Bible as deeply metaphorical.

I'll say it again, I find this behavior by ICE loathsome and it's mostly for practical reasons, not for religious reasons. Many police departments have spent years establishing working relationships with immigrant communities and then these armed bullies, these federally sanctioned and emboldened mall cops of America, blow it all away in an instant. If my neighbors stop talking to the police then my neighborhood becomes more dangerous. I have a personal stake in this.

The way to deal with U.S. immigration problems is to demand comfortable living wages for EVERYONE and to shut down employers who abuse their workers. There would be no profit in hiring undocumented workers as there is now. Employers hire undocumented and other immigrant workers because they can abuse them. These workers are disposable too. When they're used up send 'em back where they came from and hire a new batch. That's what needs to stop. That's the behavior that harms everyone, U.S. citizens included.

Back to your reply, if you really want to go there, I think nationalism and patriotism are more dangerous than religion.

I'm a liberal Catholic heretic. I live within a liberal Catholic community. My wife and I raised our children as liberal Catholics. In my childhood, my mom was hostile towards the Church for all the usual reasons, including a child molesting priest who was spirited out of our city to Ireland just ahead of an arrest warrant. I grew up mostly Jehovah's Witness and then Quaker, but religious warfare is still a favorite sport in our family. You say polite people don't talk about religion or politics at the dinner table? Forget that. At times the house of my childhood was a lot like the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But even so, my mom's religion swayed me. I didn't say the flag salute in school or even stand up to acknowledge it. Even without the blasphemous "under God" addition, oaths to government are against my religion.

Fundamentally we are all human, and none of us chose to be born in a certain place, to a certain community with a certain religion. That's why the behavior of ICE is so egregious.

[Beaverhausen]

12. way to miss the point

Police rely on good relations with our immigrants for help with solving crime and if they become afraid of anyone identifying themselves as police those relations will turn bad.

[yeoman6987]

2. I think it's a simple question

Do ICE workers go to the police academy? If they do and graduate then they are police. If they do not attend and graduate from the police academy then don't say you are police. It's simple as that.

[Sgent]

4. They are LEO's

and are federal agents. I don't see why they just can't identify themselves as agents or federales.

[yeoman6987]

7. That's a good point

[N77VG]

5. What about sheriffs? They may have never been to an academy but have all the same authority as city

police...

[yeoman6987]

6. Oh this is way more complex

Will be interesting to see this resolved.

[Demit]

11. Sheriffs identify themselves as sheriffs, or from the Sheriff's Department.

We're talking identity, not comparing authority.

[Brother Buzz]

14. Sheriff deputies identify themselves as Sheriff

And not only do they attend academies, more times then not, the Sheriff's department run the academy. Excluding large cities, most police forces aren't large enough to afford to run their own school, so they send them to county academies.

[N77VG]

18. There are no such things in my state as 'county academies', and sheriffs

(meaning the actual county Sheriffs) are elected and may or may not have any LE experience whatever. They are instantly turned into peace officers by virtue of an election.

[Brother Buzz]

21. Well, Dallas County Sheriff's Academy is, indeed, the worst in your state...

so I guess you've got a reason for never hearing of such things

The lions share of the academies in the western states are run by large counties, and the Podunk rural police sent their recruits to them. Heck, even Oakland, California, which ain't tiny, sends theirs to recruits to Alameda County Sheriff's Academy.

My small town sends their recruits to either Sacramento County Sheriff's Academy or Alameda County Sheriff's Academy, depending on scheduling and avaliability.

[N77VG]

22. Uh, I'm not in or from Texas.

Half a country away...not west.

[MissB]

3. Yeah, "police" on the vests is very misleading

We want folks to report crimes, not be afraid of the police. Basic fucking public safety.

[Xipe Totec]

8. They should identify themselves as Vanilla ICE nt

[True Dough]

13. Yo, VP Pence, let's kick it!

ICE is back with my brand new investigation
Something grabs a hold of me tightly
Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don't know
Turn off the lights and I'll glow
To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal
Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle

If there was a problem, yo, I'll solve it
By deporting your ass south of the border

Ice Ice Baby Vanilla, Ice Ice Baby Vanilla
Ice Ice Baby Vanilla, Ice Ice Baby Vanilla

[Xipe Totec]

15. That is excellent! nt

[Sunlei]

9. They do NOT have to open the door to Ice, thats why they pretend to be police. Though the Feds

do usually bring local police with them in most states or come along when Local police invade homes to "serve warrant's" for things like unpaid tickets or no-show in court. Then they can 'papers please' everyone and let ice take away undocumented.

Feds and Local police split the bonanza of cash and item seizures all the states police departments love very much. probably quite a few police "home invaders" who are corrupt and fill their empty pockets with loot.

[Snarkoleptic]

16. Here are some shareworthy handouts.

[madville]

17. Their request carries no weight of course but

I see the point. I could see the general overall benefit of identifying as law enforcement when dealing with Spanish speakers since Police and Policia are easily recognizable. ICE has had "POLICE" on their uniforms/jackets for decades.