- He's an ex-Marine. He served his country with honor.
Now in his late 20s, he serves as an officer of what is known as the 'thin
blue' line. He's the difference between you being safe at night in your
bed or being mugged on a city street or killed by a speeding drug dealer.
He patrols a major city in Connecticut on the graveyard shift. This is
his log in three parts concerning stories on America's accelerating crime
crisis: illegal immigration.
-
- "What made you get in touch with me?" I asked
him.
- "Nobody in the media will expose what is happening
in every city in America," he said. "I couldn't possibly make
any of this up. Of the calls that were dispatched last night, two crashes
involved Hispanics that fled the scene. One illegal was arrested. A female
from Peru, who did not speak English, was arrested for domestic assault
with a weapon. I ticketed yet another unlicensed illegal for motor vehicle
violations. As a police officer, I come into contact daily with people
who are in this country illegally and who have no respect for the law or
American citizens. Even when treated with respect and courtesy and being
warned instead of being arrested, they again flaunt the law. The reason
for this is that they know there are no federal repercussions after they
are arrested even though it is discovered they are here illegally. They
don't respect our laws because we don't enforce them. Period!"
-
- Few Americans realize that 29% of criminals filling jails
across this country are illegal and legal immigrants. They cost US taxpayers
nearly $1 billion annually. The ones that suffer from tuberculosis or
hepatitis spread those diseases to other inmates. This causes further medical
costs into the millions. This officer proceeded with a few examples:
-
- "I stopped a car for a violation and discovered
the operator was an unlicensed illegal immigrant who worked as a busboy
in a Spanish bar," he said. "I allowed a licensed friend of his
to drive him home and warned him he could not drive. Several days later
while I was walking a foot post, I observed him about to enter a car. He
looked at me, got in, and started to drive away. This time I towed his
car and gave him a ticket. The very next week I again observed him driving
and this time placed him under arrest, he posted bail. He was arrested
again by another officer for operating without a license. He did not respond
to court or pay any of his fines. He was arrested on a warrant, but did
not serve any jail time. Every officer I know can relate similar stories.
These are just the ones we catch."
-
- What would you say is one of your greatest frustrations
as a police officer? Is it the fact that Americans must obey laws but
illegal aliens don't?
-
- He sat in his cruiser with a deep look of chagrin on
his face, "This summer I observed a group of illegal male Hispanics
drinking from beer bottles in one of our parks. I did not take action,
but told them to the empty the bottles and then join their friends in the
picnic area. Beer is allowed, glass is not. I parked a short distance away,
but right in front of me, they returned to the vehicle and removed several
beer bottles, drinking them a short distance away. I ended their party
and wrote tickets. Why did they do this despite my presence? No respect
for our laws."
-
- What are the dangerous aspects you encounter as to identification?
-
- "This one drives me nuts," he said. "Illegal
immigrants learn many ways to confuse the police and hinder them in their
investigations. The most common way is to pretend that they don't speak
English. Another common method is using several different names. If a man's
name is Juan Sebastien Lopez-Garcia, he will use several variations of
that name and often change his date of birth. He may use Juan Lopez the
first time he is arrested. The next time he may use Sebastien Garcia. The
intent is to prevent an officer from discovering a past arrest or warrant--and
it does work. The reason is that rarely does an illegal immigrant have
any true documentation of which they are, so it is much tougher to verify
a person's identity. A better way is to make a custodial arrest and require
photo ID before allowing release. Unfortunately these offenders are often
released after showing dubious photo ID's that are easily obtained for
a fee."
-
- What you're saying is a complete lack of law and order
or respect for the law. With millions more about to be added with the
Bush amnesty, what do police officers think about illegal immigration?
-
- "I gotta tell you," he said. "Many Americans
are fed up with the current trend of our government turning a blind-eye
to the massive problem of illegal immigration. We create immigration laws
that are ignored and then, when enough people sneak into this country,
we pardon them by granting amnesty. This encourages further violations.
It makes you sick. It is also unfair to the thousands of people who have
followed the proper immigration procedures to obtain citizenship. It also
encourages these people to continue breaking laws while they are in the
country, especially motor vehicle laws. Municipal and state law enforcement
officials, like myself, are fed up with arresting illegal immigrants, only
to have them released. We must re-arrest these individuals when they again
commit a crime, as they invariably do."
-
- Are you saying that national security is useless? Is
Tom Ridge fooling himself and us? How great is our risk each day?
-
- "I can tell you," he said. "If an illegal
immigrant wants to legally circumvent our driving laws, he can obtain a
license from a state with minimal identification requirements. In Virginia
for example, if a person has a Virginia address and a photo ID, like a
passport, he can obtain a license. Once an illegal has this document, he
can now legally drive in this country and has legitimate identification.
I discovered this after I compared notes with several other officers and
learned that illegal immigrants would go to Virginia, get a license, and
then use it to drive in other states that had stricter laws for obtaining
licenses. This way when they were stopped, the only action an officer could
take would be to write a ticket for failure to change address. This is
what I do. I spoke with a cooperative illegal immigrant who told me that
many of his friends would go to Virginia and that they all used the same
address of someone they knew in Virginia, on the application. This was
very common and most illegal immigrants knew how to do it. This is a tremendous
hole in our national security system that needs to be closed, not opened
by allowing illegal immigrants to obtain licenses as was recently proposed.
Since 9/11, I believe that states have tightened up on this aspect, but
I still receive Virginia licenses with regularity."
-
- After writing a ticket to an illegal alien from Guatemala
whom had no license, this officer said, "Guess what he is doing? Delivering
papers. His job requires him to drive a car, yet he has no license. Unbelievable!
But it gets better. I warned this same guy several weeks ago not to drive.
I had been heading to a call and told him it was his lucky day because
I did not have time to write him a ticket. I told him that if I saw him
driving again, the next time I would tow his car. So after writing him
over $400 worth of tickets, that is what I did."
-
- This officer's shift was over at daybreak. He looked
worn, tired and ready for a hot shower and meal. What would go through
one's mind if they were serving their state and country with their lives
on the line daily, but their own leaders wouldn't uphold our nation's laws?
It begs the question across America concerning the rule-of-law. If our
laws are routinely disobeyed by illegal aliens at the federal level and
then, at the state level-and finally, at the local level with impunity-at
what point does a nation move toward lawlessness as the norm? What is
the definition of law? How long before it breaks down to the point whereby
so many disregard it that a community can't function or functions in fear.
With 10 to 13 million illegal aliens operating in the United States, an
amnesty will draw millions more just as a green light means 'GO' in traffic.
This officer will explore what it means on his night shift: Part II-The
loss of law and order.
-
-
- Frosty Wooldridge (<mailto:frostyw@juno.com>frostyw@juno.com),
web site: (<http://www.frostywooldridge.com/>www.frostywooldridge.com)
is a teacher and author who has bicycled 100,000 miles on six continents
to see overpopulation up close and ugly.
-
- Copyright© MichNews.com. All Rights Reserved.
|
