Let's hope the immigrant residents believe this, everyone will be safer. DP
By Jon Ruhlen - The Hutchinson News -
hutchnews.com: LIBERAL - The Liberal Police Department wants victims and witnesses of crime to know they can call the police - regardless of residency documentation.
Liberal Police Chief Alan Sill said the department is trying to get out the message because "we want to assure people that we want to help them as victims and not be afraid of contacting us because of their resident status."
The police department wants to clear up questions and concerns that immigrants, both legal and illegal, may have about the police in the wake of recent immigration enforcement in southwest Kansas, Sill stated in a press release.
Although the department will assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement when asked, officers have no deportation authority and generally take no action related to deportations and enforcement status, the release states.
"We don't have the authority, and we don't have any state statutes that govern that," Sill said in a phone interview.
"We just want to get the message out to our citizens and to people traveling through Liberal - we definitely want to help them if they are the victim of a crime, but in order to do that we want them to come forward. We want to assure them that they should have no fear of coming forward because of resident status," Sill said.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.
1 comment:
I actually think that cultural norms are playing a role in the hesitancy of immigrants to report crimes. When you think of the countries that many US immigrants come from and the level of corruption that exists within law enforcement, it's a definite possibility. I think that in addition to the fear of deportation for this without legal status, those who have it view law enforcement as an entity than cannot be trusted. Maybe some civic education will help change this perception.
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