civlib.Simonson

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Please either post your comments in response to this page in the comments box at the bottom of the page, post them to the Civlib list, or email us at democracy@global-dialog.org SUGGESTED ADDITION TO THE RESOLUTION: ### (the City Council requests that:) -the Santa Fe Police Department not engage in, or permit, racial profiling or detentions without charges. An initial version of the Resolution had this provision, but was voted out by later groups. However, discussion with many in the community suggests widespread support for such a provision. Democratic candidate for SF County Sheriff, who attended our last meeting, suggested we push for an actual statute in support of it. Peter Simonson, Director the NM branch of the ACLU, had the suggestions below, one of which prompted this possible addition. from Peter Simonson: 1) The City Council can direct the City police to preserve the freedoms that are mentioned—it doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t, in my opinion) “request.” Wouldn’t it be nicer to get some accountability out of the resolution in the event local police are some day engaged by the FBI or INS? 2) The resolution doesn’t mention equal protection under the law. You may remember that last October the FBI was asking municipal police departments around the country to take part in their dragnet operation to investigate young, Middle Eastern men. Several police chiefs refused to cooperate unless the feds could provide evidence of criminal suspicion. They argued that investigations constituted racial profiling and, as such, violated equal protection rights. Similarly, the DOJ recently issued a legal opinion that local law enforcement agencies have the authority to enforce federal immigration law unless explicitly limited by state statute. (We’re working on a bill that would prohibit this for the next session.) This is part of Ashcroft’s scheme to use anti-terrorism as a pretext for tightening the screws on immigrants. Where Santa Fe Police are concerned, I believe both racial profiling and immigration law enforcement could be averted with a provision that requires officers to have “reasonable suspicion” that individuals have violated state or municipal law before taking part in criminal investigations. We might have to ask a criminal defense attorney to work on the language a little bit, but you get what I mean. Such a provision would also offer some protection from a cop who decides to target someone of Arabic descent, thinking he’s contributing to national security. Mind you, racial profiling doesn’t just take place in police practice. Maybe a provision acknowledging equal protection more broadly is needed. 3) I suspect that the Santa Fe City Council has their own lobbyist. You might add a provision that requires them to lobby against any state legislation that threatens the freedoms mentioned. We did that in the “immigrant friendly city” resolution that passed here in Abq a couple years ago.