Posted on 07/23/2002 10:56:05 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache
FDLE cross-training 35 police officers to also serve as INS agents
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
By MIREIDY FERNANDEZ, mmfernandez@naplesnews.com
While Florida law enforcement officials spearhead a pilot program designating officers to also serve as INS agents, all eyes are on the Sunshine State in anticipation of what could become the national model for domestic security.
On July 9, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Domestic Security Task Force began cross-training 35 officers from police agencies statewide to increase their expertise in federal immigration matters.
The officers — five of whom are from Southwest Florida — will serve the dual role of law enforcers and federal Immigration and Naturalization Service agents starting next month.
"It's essentially a test project and we're a testing state for the country," said E.J. Picolo, FDLE's regional director and co-chairman of the state's Regional Domestic Security Task Force.
Picolo said the kinds of action officers should be prepared to take solely depend on the situation.
"If an officer stops someone on the side of the road who's from Afghanistan and they're here with an expired visa, that may or may not be of interest to us," he said.
Along with Picolo, Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter serves as co-chairman of the task force. The task force program is separate from Hunter's initiative earlier this year in which he proposed having access to an INS database with the names of undocumented workers.
All 35 officers on the task force are training in Orlando with INS agents, learning the ins and outs of immigration law and the various aspects of holding federal powers.
They are expected to complete the training and begin their new duties in mid-August, Picolo said.
Citing safety reasons, he declined to release the names of the five Southwest Florida officers or their backgrounds.
The five officers from the Southwest Florida region work for the Collier Sheriff's Office, Fort Myers police department, Hendry Sheriff's Office, Sarasota Sheriff's Office and FDLE. Although the Lee County Sheriff's Office is part of the task force, the agency doesn't have a full-time officer assigned to it, Picolo said.
When the officers return from Orlando, they will be stationed at FDLE's Fort Myers office for an entire year, working alongside a veteran INS agent, Picolo said.
"They'll have the legal authority to take action as an INS agent," he said. "The key is to be as proactive as we can in finding anyone who has an intent in disrupting our domestic security regardless of race or gender."
But even law enforcement officers given additional federal powers have limitations.
Steve Lauer, FDLE's chief of domestic security initiatives for the state, said the officers won't have a role in the day-to-day functions of INS agents. On Monday, Lauer shared his vision and insight on how to fight terrorism as the keynote speaker at a Florida Fire Chiefs Association conference in Naples.
"They are agents and local officers who are trained and receive a limited INS authority to investigate INS violations," Lauer said. "They do not have full-range INS authority of all aspects of INS law."
The task force would handle cases of individuals who remain in the United States with an expired visa if there is information indicating the person is a threat to national security, Lauer said.
"We're not going to be doing INS sweeps or looking for illegal workers in agricultural areas," Lauer said. "These guys aren't going to be doing all the immigration cases."
Collier sheriff's spokeswoman Sheri Mausen concurred with Lauer's description of the job the new INS officers will undertake.
"The primary responsibility of this task force is to track down anyone who poses a threat to domestic security," she said. "Their role won't be to go out to farms and round up illegal aliens."
Mausen also said that because this is the first program of this type anywhere across the country in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the objective is for the program to serve as the blueprint for the rest of the nation.
"This is a state initiative that involves local law enforcement," she said. "Let's hope this would be a model for other states."
Along with training law enforcement officers on immigration matters, Florida will also be the first state to establish a "Complaint Center."
The center is expected to have an 800 number for the public to call in with tips about possible terrorist threats or information that could help authorities nab suspected terrorist networks scheming to harm the country, said Jennifer McCord, an FDLE spokeswoman in Tallahassee.
She also said the No. 1 focus of all 35 officers taking on INS duties is clear: to prevent terrorist attacks.
"They won't be making traffic stops or doing raids," McCord said. "That's not what they're trained for and they're not authorized to do that."
Nice misquote, newbie.
The article is speaking of 35 task force officers, not the entire INS.
But I suspect you knew that, propagangster.
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