Arizona cops get guidelines
State clarifies immigration law with 90-minute DVD
PHOENIX – Police officers trying to enforce a controversial new Arizona immigration law cannot use race to form a suspicion that someone is in the country illegally, but can rely on people’s ability to speak English, their dress and whether they are in an area where illegal immigrants congregate, according to new state guidelines released Thursday.
The 90-minute training DVD and accompanying paperwork will be distributed to 15,000 local law enforcement officers statewide charged with enforcing the sweeping new law, which is scheduled to take effect July 29.
The law requires police to determine the status of people they stop and also suspect are in the country illegally, and makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration documents in Arizona.
Most of the video focuses on the thorny question of how officers can form a suspicion that someone is an illegal immigrant without taking race into account. Critics have said there is no way to do that without engaging in racial profiling. The training warns officers that activists may try to lure them into stopping people based on their race.
“Without a doubt, we’re going to be accused of racial profiling on this, no matter what we do,” Tucson police Chief Roberto Villasenor, a vocal opponent of the law, says in the video. “Even if you’re on firm ground, there are people out there who are not going to believe this is not racially motivated.”
Lyle Mann, head of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, which produced the video, warns officers that “the entire country is waiting to see how Arizona, particularly Arizona law enforcement, responds.”
The training materials, which do not have to be viewed by every officer, were required by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer when she signed SB 1070 into law in April. She said the measure was needed to protect the state from drug violence spilling north from Mexico but that she would not let the law promote racial profiling.
The Obama administration has said the law appears unconstitutional and is expected to join several private lawsuits aimed at stopping it from taking effect.