VOTE FOR SB 462!
PROTECT VICTIMS, PROMOTE COMMUNITY-BASED POLICING, AND ENSURE A SAFER VIRGINIA FOR ALL
“One of the central benchmarks of a well-commanded police department is establishing good relationships with the local communities, including those composed of immigrants. Working with these communities is critical in preventing and investigating crimes.” – Internat’l Assoc. of Chiefs of Police, Police Chiefs Guide to Immigration Issues (July 2007), p. 21
What SB 462 does:
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SB 462 encourages bona fide victims and cooperating witnesses of crimes to come forward, report crimes, and assist in prosecutions without fearing that their immigration status will be questioned unless necessary to the investigation.
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SB 462 strikes the right balance between giving police the latitude they need to effectively investigate violations of state and local law, and giving immigrant victims and witnesses the reassurance they need to feel safe about contacting the authorities.
Why SB 462 is critically needed:
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Community-based policing has been time-tested for decades as a successful model of crime prevention and reduction. It relies for its success on an essential relationship of trust and cooperation between the police and the residents of the communities they serve.
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According to the US Census (2006 American Community Survey), over 10% of Virginia’s residents were estimated to be “foreign-born.” The trust and cooperation of Virginia’s immigrant communities is increasingly vital to law enforcement efforts.
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Immigrants’ fear of police has relegated victims to suffer in silence and made our communities less secure. Many immigrants’ fear and mistrust of the authorities is based on past experiences with corrupt, oppressive, or unresponsive police in their home countries. Some immigrant communities have become more wary of racial profiling and immigration investigations after 9/11. For all immigrant communities, a “chilling effect” descends on police-community relations when state and local police are perceived as possible deportation agents.
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When immigrant victims and witnesses fear that their immigration status will be questioned, they do not report crimes or cooperate with prosecutions. Crimes go unsolved, perpetrators go free. Across Virginia, service-providers working with immigrant victims – and law enforcement investigating crimes involving immigrant victims and witnesses – report the significant obstacles this fear poses to the criminal justice system’s ability to transform crimes into convictions. Domestic violence, sexual assault, and street robberies are just some of the types of violent crimes that routinely go unreported and unsolved.
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A patchwork of local policies is inadequate and ineffective in promoting confidence and cooperation. Several Virginia police departments – including Prince William County – have instituted prudent local policies to reassure victims that they will not be asked about their immigration status. Immigrant victims and witnesses never know, however, where the boundary lies between jurisdictions in which a call to 911 brings help and those in which that same call can get them deported. SB 462 offers immigrant crime victims a clear, uniform, statewide commitment that wherever they are, they can safely come forward and report crimes, seek help, and cooperate with the authorities.
SB 462’s supporters include Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax Counties; prominent law enforcement officials; the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance; the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy; the Virginia Catholic Conference; and the Virginia Alliance for Sensible Community Policing Efforts (a broad-based alliance of over 25 organizations across Virginia).
From the Tahirah Justice Center.