Seeking Guidelines : Council Pushes for New Police Rules on Aliens

In a display of dissatisfaction with police conduct, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday sent the Police Commission new guidelines intended to cut down on the number of illegal aliens that officers turn over to immigration authorities.

It was unclear whether the guidelines will be put into effect.

Police officials object to some of the provisions and said Tuesday that they expect the commission, which has ultimate authority in police policy matters, to make changes.

Councilman Richard Alatorre drafted the new guidelines in response to complaints, largely from the Latino community, about a series of recent incidents. His proposal, which won the council’s unanimous approval, urgently requests that the commission adopt the changes.

While a council committee was negotiating the guidelines with the Police Department last July, police rescued 20 aliens from smugglers who were holding them hostage. The aliens were then turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which began deportation proceedings.

Police had been alerted to the hostage situation by a frantic call from a man in Reno who reported that his wife and children were being held by alien smugglers in Los Angeles.

The proposed policy is intended to prevent the police from contacting the INS in such circumstances, as well as in a range of others.

“A relative of a hostage must feel free to call the police and not fear any repercussions,” Alatorre said. In many areas of the city, he said, the fear of deportation keeps people from reporting crimes.

“A victim of a crime must be able to call police no matter how that person got here to the United States,” Alatorre said.

The proposal approved Tuesday reaffirms a 1979 Police Department policy that says “alien status itself is not a matter for police action.”

Some critics said that the policy is vague and has been largely ignored.

Madeline Janis, executive director of the Central American Refugee Center, told the council that the police have a “current policy of working closely with the INS.” The 1979 directive is so confusing, she said, that nobody seems to know what it says.

The proposal spells out acceptable practices in detail and prohibits Los Angeles police officers from:

* Cooperating with the INS to inquire about a person’s immigration status, except for employment applications.

* Assisting in any INS investigation, detention or arrest, except when the department has cause to believe that the subject has committed or is committing a felony.

* Detaining witnesses or victims, or helping the INS to do so, unless there is probable cause to believe the witness or victim has committed a serious misdemeanor or a felony.

* Cooperating with any INS investigation to assist an inquiry or surveillance by a foreign government.

Assistant Police Chief Robert Vernon said Tuesday that the department has concerns about some parts of the policy, but he declined to be specific. He told the council that the department agrees with the proposed policy in principle, but added that he believes the 1979 order was sufficient.

“I don’t think there’s been any real confusion,” Vernon said.

Later, Vernon told reporters that if a hostage situation such as the one last July were to occur again, the department would notify INS officials, whose expertise would be needed to separate the kidnapers from the victims.

The Police Commission has not set a date for a hearing on the proposed guidelines. The commission, a five-member civilian panel, is in a period of transition following the recent resignations of its chairman and another member.

Mayor Tom Bradley has nominated attorney-lobbyist Dan Garcia, a Latino, and lawyer Melanie Lomax, a black, to fill the vacancies. If the City Council approves both, the majority of the panel will be minority-group members.

Outgoing Commission President Robert Talcott said Tuesday he sees no problem with the council’s request for a change in policy.

“The primary function of LAPD is the investigation and apprehension of criminal suspects,” Talcott said. “There are other agencies who are fully staffed and whose primary mission is dealing with illegal aliens.”