There has been a lot of hoopla surrounding the immigration bill that is about to become law here in Arizona and much of what I have read and heard on the news is wild speculation and unfounded scare tactics.  I admit there are some legitimate fears by some, who have weighed in on this new bill, but media hype, scare tactics from opponents and the uninformed bring on most of it.

I have been a police officer here in Arizona for the last twelve years and through the course of my career I have dealt with illegal aliens on many occasions.  Some of them were uneventful, but unfortunately many of them were involving crimes or other circumstances, which drew the unwanted attention of the police.  With that being said I felt compelled to try and give a perspective that many police officers here in Arizona share.

This new bill will lead to profiling.  Really?  How do you know?  I do not profile and the vast majority of police officers here in the metro Phoenix area do not profile citizens solely based on race or skin color.  It is insulting and (gasp) hurtful to some extent for individuals to automatically assume that we in the law enforcement community are suddenly going to change the way we police just because a new law is going to be enacted that gives us the authority to arrest illegal aliens merely for being in the US illegally.  To those of you who make this claim where is yourproof?  How do you know?  You do not.  You are making uneducated and biased guesses without understanding the true nature of the majority of police officers.  (Especially officers who work here in Arizona.)  Yes there will be some officers that will profile and abuse the law, but these officers probably are doing so already and have no business being police officers.

Local law enforcement officers will be enforcing Federal immigration laws.  This is simply not true.  This new bill was written by the state legislature not the federal legislature.  This bill came out of Phoenix, not Washington DC, therefore this is a state law, not a federal law.  I hear many news reports stating local police officers will be required to enforce federal immigration laws.  That is a typical media ploy putting an incorrect spin on reality.  In order for local law enforcementofficers to enforce federal laws, they have to receive special training by the federal government in order to do so.  I have not and will not be receiving any special training and neither will anyone else.  The Maricopa County Sheriffs department has many deputies who have gone through this training, but they did so in order to enforce the federal immigration laws.  This new law is a state law only.

Local police will be forced to check the identity of anyone they suspect as being here illegally.  Wrong!  There is a thing called the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.  Good and well-rounded officers are able to perform their jobs utilizing both philosophies of law enforcement.  Ignorant, mean spirited or officers who only view the world in black or white operate solely by the letter of the law.  Normally lazy or burned out officers operate only in the confines of the spirit of the law.  What this means is that the majority ofpolice here in Arizona will use discretion and will not always take action when they suspect they are dealing with an illegal alien.  If I make a traffic stop and the driver and passengers are of Hispanic decent that does not mean I automatically have to check and make sure everyone in the vehicle is a legal citizen or in the country legally nor would I every time I made a stop.  But, if the driver hands me a Mexican drivers license, a Mexican voter registration card, a Mexican Consular card or the driver has no identification at all odds are this person is in the US illegally.  Through my years of experience this is true 99.9% of the time.  Now will I always and automatically check this persons legal status?  No.  Ihave the discretion to enforce this law and will continue to use discretion.

Anytime police officers see someone of Hispanic decent they will automatically approach that person and demand to see his/her credentials.  Are you kidding me?  There really isnt much to be said about this wild theory except that it is completely ignorant, not true and just a bunch of HORSECRAP!!!!!

Police officers have more important things to do like catching murders and rapists.  Yes, so please refer back to my previous entry that talks about discretion.  I do not need John Q. Public to tell me that I have more important things to other than enforce this new law.  I as well as other police officers are well aware of what our duties are, but thanks for the reminder.  But, if we are too busy to enforce new immigration laws and should be out looking for dangerous criminals then I here by officially request that all citizens stop calling my respective department with mundane and crazy requests such as: My neighbors dog is barkingand will not stop.  Please go tell my neighbor to take care of his dog.  I left my garden hose running in my pool and I am afraid it will over flow and flood my yard.  Could you please send an office over to my house and turn off my hose?  My son will not take his Ritalin will you please send and officer over to make him take his medicine?  So, yes we officers do have better things to do.

Citizens can sue a department or police officers that do not enforce this law.  I say bring it on!

The bottom is this.  If you are in the US illegally then you run the risk of deportation and if you get caught to bad!  If you are here illegally and you do not want to be deported then you can leave the country or do not draw the unwanted attention of the police.  Oh and one final thought; this new law doe not just apply to Mexicans, it applies to anyone here illegally.  It does not matter if you are German, British, Japanese or Guatemalan.