Detroit police officers coordinated with federal immigration authorities at least twice in the past two months, putting two people suspected of being in the United States unlawfully on the path to potential deportation, Police Chief Todd Bettison revealed at a meeting of the department’s oversight board on Thursday, Feb. 12.
Bettison said the coordination with U.S. Customs and Border Protection violated department policy, and the two officers responsible have been suspended. He requested on Thursday that the oversight board — the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners — withhold the suspended officers’ pay.
“Of our officers, 98-99 percent do it the right way each and every day,” he said. “But I do have one or two percent that decide to violate our rules, our policies and our procedures, and to those officers, I will hold them accountable.”
Bettison announced the Feb. 9 and Dec. 16 incidents a week after he told Detroit City Council members the department does not conduct immigration enforcement during a confirmation hearing for his reappointment by Mayor Mary Sheffield.
On Feb. 9, a Detroit police sergeant called Border Patrol after an officer requested translation services during a traffic stop of a person who did not speak English, Bettison said. Border Patrol responded, “conducted their investigation,” “determined that the individual was not a U.S. citizen,” and “as a result” took the person, Bettison said.
The incident occurred at approximately 3:15 p.m., Bettison said.
Around 4 p.m. the same day, the Free Press saw Detroit police and Customs and Border Protection officers downtown at Woodward Avenue and Witherell Street.
When a Free Press reporter approached and asked what was going on, a Detroit police officer declined to comment before getting in her vehicle, and the CBP officers got in their vehicle and drove off.
The department did not answer Free Press requests for additional information after the incident.
On Friday, a department spokesperson confirmed the incident was the one Bettison announced on Thursday.
The Dec. 16 coordination between Detroit police and CBP was meanwhile discovered during a body-worn camera audit, Bettison told the oversight board Thursday.
In that case, a police officer was “investigating an individual on a felony warrant at a location on the west side and ultimately … believing that the individual was not a U.S. citizen, decided to contact Border Patrol,” Bettison said.
“Border Patrol did respond, and Border Patrol ultimately took this individual,” he said.
The board will determine whether to suspend the two officers without pay at a closed-door session during its next meeting, Feb. 19, said board member Darryl Woods, who was acting as chair Thursday.
Audio of the Thursday meeting was posted by the Detroit Documenters civic journalism service. The city of Detroit did not immediately post the meeting to its website or YouTube channel.
During Bettison’s Feb. 5 confirmation hearing, City Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero — who represents the southwest portion of the city where many Latino residents live — peppered him with questions about the department’s cooperation with immigration authorities, saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the city has been “brushed under the rug.”
In response, Bettison said, “The extent of our cooperation with an entity such as ICE would be, when it comes to our Detroit detention center, they would have to issue a detainer requester that has been signed off by a judge … At that point, we would honor that only after we have adjudicated the individual.”
Of immigration enforcement, Bettison added, “We’re constantly reminding our officers that that is not our lane, nor our focus.”
Detroit police officials reminded officers of policies pertaining to coordination with immigration officials during a Nov. 15 department-wide meeting and held a command meeting on the topic Feb. 12, police spokesperson Jasmin Barmore said Friday.
Policies include one that bars officers who encounter non-English speakers from contacting federal agencies for translation services, Bettison said.
Officers are instead instructed to use the department’s language service hotline. Bettison said officers used the hotline 1,522 times last year, signaling “the majority of officers are doing it the right way,” he said.
Violet Ikonomova is an investigative reporter with the Detroit Free Press focused on government and police accountability. Contact her at vikonomova@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit cops suspended after coordinating with immigration officials
Reporting by Violet Ikonomova, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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