Guest Author
Trust.
That’s the keyword when we think about law enforcement’s relationship with the community. Trust between these two groups allows police to do their jobs effectively and for the public to feel they can rely on us in times of crisis.
As a two-term Sheriff in Flagler County, I worked diligently to bring our personnel and operational systems up to date. A cornerstone of these efforts were community-driven policing policies, and as a result of this work, Flagler County’s crime rates are among the lowest in the state, a declining trend in overall crime that began during my second term.
Over the years, I have seen the public safety benefits of a strong, trusting relationship between the community and their law enforcement officers, and I have seen the damage when that relationship is broken.
Right now, in Florida, law enforcement-community trust faces a serious new threat from SB 1808/HB 1355, a recently proposed immigration enforcement law.
I strongly urge my fellow law enforcement officers to oppose this bill in order to preserve our relationship of trust with those we serve. We must stand together and call on elected officials to see it for what it really is: a threat to public safety in Florida.
SB 1808 and HB 1355, its counterpart in the House, will force every Florida law enforcement agency to enter into a cooperation agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In other words, when Florida law enforcement officers at any level interact with undocumented immigrants, they will be incentivized to book and report the individual to ICE regardless of why they were dispatched.
Not only does this policy undermine the privacy rights of Florida residents, but it may destroy trust in law enforcement.
If SB1808 is signed into law, many of Florida’s more than 4.5 million foreign-born residents will feel unsafe going to law enforcement to report crimes against themselves or those they witness if it means they or a loved one could be sanctioned. Studies have shown that police involvement in immigration matters leads to witnesses becoming less likely to talk to police about investigations. Not only does this prevent crimes from being solved, but the lack of reporting will encourage crimes against immigrant communities.
Compounding this problem is the fact that human trafficking is a major industry in Florida. In 2020, our state had the third-highest number of reported trafficking cases in the country, many of those cases involving immigrants and people smuggled across borders. Community members often have valuable information about trafficking that help law enforcement save those victims. But SB1808 would derail that, making some communities too afraid of deportation to go to the police with information.
It is vital that this legislation is vetoed. It jeopardizes public trust in law enforcement and does far more harm than good to Floridians.
Local police should focus on public safety and fostering that relationship of trust and cooperation. We are sworn to protect and serve our communities, not to become federal agents enforcing national immigration policies.
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James Manfre was the sheriff of Flagler County from 2001-05 and again from 2012-16. He is a speaker with the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit group of police, prosecutors, judges, and other criminal justice officials who want to improve the criminal justice system.
