SB1070 Training Revealed
The lamestream media told you:
Crazy racist madmen in Arizona are pushing a racial profiling campaign that forces Gestapo-like police to stop anyone brown on the street and demand ID papers. This is a hopelessly Nazi perversion of the American system, and if you have a shred of decency you will boycott these hateful lunatics. Show them that Hispanics promoting La Raza and Aztlan, who sneak into America through great hardship, are decent migrants seeking a better way of life, who deserve support, kindness, welfare, amnesty and free medical care.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
I got to watch the entire police training video for enforcing SB1070, Arizona’s anti-illegal-immigration law.
Pretty much everything you’ve heard in the “news” about this law and its enforcement is completely wrong. A court temporarily put a hold on a few aspects of the law, but the law is in effect and unlike the media, that doesn’t prevent me from examining what the law actually does.
First -- Reasonable suspicion is not an arbitrary meaningless phrase that can be used to justify anything, as reporters have repeatedly repeated. From Black’s Law Dictionary, the gold standard for such things:
“Reasonable suspicion. Such suspicion which will justify police officer, for Fourth Amendment purposes, in stopping defendant in public place, is the quantum of knowledge sufficient to induce an ordinarily prudent and cautious man under the circumstances to believe criminal activity is at hand. It must be based on specific and articulable facts, which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant intrusion.”
Despite “news” reports, reasonable suspicion must be based on facts, they must be specific, they must be articulable (you have to be able to say what they are, they can’t be vague feelings or hunches), and they must be sufficient to make a prudent and cautious person infer something criminal is happening. Failure to meet those conditions would be grounds to deny the legality of the officer’s actions, and bring on a world of hurt for the offending officer and the person’s entire department.
Indicators of Unlawful Presence
Here is the list.
The media has avoided these nuts and bolts,
leaving the public uninformed, and putting rumor
and nonsense where the news is supposed to go.
contribute to reasonable suspicion of unlawful presence:
--Lack of identification
(A person is not required to possess ID unless doing something that requires ID, such as driving a motor vehicle; valid ID is defined in the video, such as driver’s license, non-operator’s ID card, tribal ID, etc., and it must be issued by a government entity that requires proof of legal presence in the U.S.; note that Washington, New Mexico and Utah driver licenses don’t meet the definition since they issue without proof of citizenship or residency, making them a long-time magnet for fraudulent document seekers); If valid ID is shown, that resolves and quickly ends the inquiry about lawful presence. A full-color guide to valid ID and forgeries is included for officers with the program.)
--Possession of foreign ID
--Flight and/or preparation for flight
--Engaging in evasive maneuvers on foot or in a vehicle
--Voluntary statements (an admission) made by the person regarding unlawful presence
--Foreign vehicle registration
--Presence of counter-surveillance equipment or lookout activity
--In company of other illegal aliens (the training video always says “persons unlawfully present”)
--Location, such as at a place where illegals gather or are known to look for work
--Presence along human smuggling routes
--Traveling in tandem
--In a vehicle that is overcrowded or rides heavily
--Presence of passengers who attempt to hide or evade detection
--Prior information about the person
--Inability to provide a residential address
--Claiming to not know others persons present in vehicle or location
--Dress
--Demeanor
--Providing inconsistent or illogical information
--Unexplained nervousness, erratic behavior, refusal to make eye contact
--Does not know how long they have been in the country
An officer doesn’t need all those factors, and there may be others, but if an officer does develop reasonable suspicion that the person stopped, detained or arrested is present in the country unlawfully, the officer either contacts ICE at 802-872-6020, or contacts a 287G-certified officer to make a determination about lawful presence in the country.
Now, does that sound like what the media has been telling you? Shame on the “news” media and its staff for so severely distorting this issue. Does this process sound unfairly onerous or unusually bizarre, to determine if a person has illegally broken into the nation by crossing the border when no one was watching?
No need to take my word for it. Due to public interest and pressure, the entire program is now publicly posted:
http://www.azpost.state.az.us/
There is nothing racist about it whatsoever.
The police department bends over backwards to avoid even an appearance of racism in enforcement of this crime-control law. They emphasize repeatedly that all Arizona officers will be under a microscope on this, so everything possible should be done to protect the department from accusations, real or imagined.
The department recommends detailed documentation on all aspects of lawful stops, detentions or arrests, including recordings and after-incident reports, to be able to refute charges that may come from people detained or people released.
AZPOST, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board responsible for the training video, warns officers to expect traps set by SB1070 opponents, hidden and obvious cameras and video recorders, carefully designed set ups to entrap officers and make a phony case about proper enforcement of the law.
The only place rampant racism is involved is in false reporting and uninformed shouting about the law, which has been grotesque and outrageous. The false reports have been very effective in stirring up wild emotions and creating a furor based on nonsense and fabrications we used to call “lies.” People screaming for boycotts and ostracism do indeed believe the law is overly racist, and in that sense, the media campaign against this law has been very successful, even if concocted.
There is however a real racial (not racist) component of the problem since, according to Border Patrol figures, 80% of the invaders are of Hispanic origin. Why Hispanics comprise the huge majority of invaders is not clearly understood. Border Patrol does note however that fully 20% of the invaders are OTMs, their term for “other than Mexicans.”
Other Observations About SB1070 Training
Numerous hosts, commentators, officials, officers, lawyers and scholars deliver the program and point out that:
--The integrity of our profession is at stake; you are being watched nationally; there is always a presumption of legal presence for anyone detained (the video constantly says stopped, detained or arrested, I shorten that here for simplicity).
--Remember your oath of office and obligation to the public; you are required to enforce this law, it is not optional; document everything you do or do not do, say why, and be prepared to explain your actions.
--Racial profiling (RP) is specifically forbidden, is a hot button used to arouse ire, critics doubt your ethics and ability, and this is underserved. An “ugly media image that’s unwarranted” has been created and promoted, before the law was even in effect. This includes any sense of detestable “show me your papers,” which has no more validity after 1070 than before. Papers are widely required for all sorts of routine business, from renting a hotel room or getting a library book to a traffic stop.
--Racial profiling is defined, it is unethical, unacceptable, violates civil rights. (It becomes obvious that any officer who attempts RP will be in serious hot water.) RP was illegal before SB1070.
--More warnings about tests and traps set by opponents. More 4th Amendment cautions. “News” commentators’ assertions that RP is now legal are totally false, “but we’ll be accused of it regardless.” Help defend your department against false charges; always consider “the totality of the situation.”
--Only “reasonable suspicion of illegal presence” must drive actions; repercussions to an officer for using racial profiling are severe and would require an officer to falsify reports, internal affairs fabrication, perjury. An official can in no way jump from no papers to reasonable suspicion of unlawful presence.
--The applicable statutes (mainly, new Ariz. law A.R.S. §11-1051, but also 13-2928 and 13-2829) are excellently dissected by attorney Beverly Ginn; Consensual contact does not trigger action, only a lawful stop, detention or arrest. (This dispels another major lie relentlessly propagated thru the media -- arbitrary stops for papers are a figment of wild imagination and have nothing to do with this law.)
--Police are between a big rock and a very hard place, since they can be sued for failure to implement the law (the “teeth” Sen. Pearce put in to prevent sanctuary policies); yet they must release a person if the facts don’t rise to sufficient cause to act; this gray line might induce releases of illegals to avoid false charges, but could then be used for lawsuits for failure to enforce.
--For a stop to be legal, the officer must be convinced the person “is committing, has committed or will commit” a crime; reasonable suspicion is needed to act, and then needed again for suspicion of illegal presence.
--“Race tells us nothing.” Ethnicity, color, such factors play no role in enforcing the law.
--When asking for ID in normal routine, if the person has it and it’s valid, that’s the end of it, and the presumption of lawful presence holds.
If you still fail to recognize the “news” media as one of the greatest enemies America currently faces, you need to turn down your lithium drip.
Comments