Panel Asks Police for Rules on INS Checks

A Los Angeles Police Commission panel called on the LAPD on Thursday to correct shortcomings in its operating manual to make sure officers do not stop people solely to check their immigration status.

At issue is Special Order 40, a 1979 directive that was passed to prohibit such conduct but, according to the panel, was never fully incorporated into the Police Department manual.

A report by the Rampart Independent Review Panel, created in the wake of the corruption scandal in the Rampart Division, did not confirm allegations by community activists and former Rampart officer Rafael Perez that police routinely violate Special Order 40.

However, “in the absence of adequate guidelines and internal controls, the potential for abuses by LAPD officers as alleged by former officer Rafael Perez exists,” wrote Richard Drooyan, a former chief assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles who led the panel, which consisted of almost 200 experts.

Leaders of the immigrant community have long contended that close cooperation between police and the Immigration and Naturalization Service discourages witnesses and crime victims from coming forward. That was the rationale behind Special Order 40, which was among the first such police directives in the country.

In its 20-page report, the panel recommended that the terms of the order be spelled out in the department manual. The panel said the manual should also set specific guidelines on when it is appropriate for police to have contact with INS agents.

Records should be maintained of all contacts between the two agencies, the panel said.

The findings will be forwarded to the Police Commission and, ultimately, to the City Council.