Hedging Harassment

We understand that the Citizen Advisory Committee on Police Practices is considering a proposal under which the San Diego Police would join with INS agents in foot patrols of the downtown area in an attempt to reduce crime in the area by seeking out criminals among undocumented migrants.

We are unaware of evidence that undocumented persons in particular are responsible for a significant share of crime in the area.

It seems inevitable that the proposed patrols would become involved in the harassment of persons of Latino appearance regardless of their legal status or activities.

The United States is not a country in which individuals are required to carry proof of citizenship or are subject to challenge on that account in the ordinary conduct of their affairs.

Police enforcement activities seen as directed at control of an ethnic group rather than at criminal activities will weaken the community by destroying the trust of that group in the police and the city administration that authorizes such a policy.

The El Paso program, said to be the model for the San Diego proposal, is controversial; arguments for its effectiveness are counterbalanced by claims that it is responsible for violations of civil rights and has engendered enmity and distrust of authority. It does not seem a good lead for San Diego to follow.

JUDITH LESHEFKA, Clerk, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)