Both Fish and Foul, Continued

“Predators did not need mercy.”

― Conn Iggulden 

Yesterday, we reviewed the reasons a city might be circumspect about assisting with The Soon-To-Be Trump Administration's plan to begin deporting undocumented immigrants who have criminal records. We discussed the very real issue of chilling legitimate calls for police service by someone who is both undocumented and the victim of a criminal act. Law enforcement's commitment to them is real, hard to develop and fragile. Still, we are responsible for finding a way in.

Tonight, one of the corollaries to our desire to professionally police these communities. It is a basic tenet of community policing, an undeniable truth, that one of the best ways to partner with a neighborhood and decrease crime is to arrest and jail the people committing illegal acts. Among the best indicators that a person will commit crimes is that they are committing crimes.

One need only look at the Kate Steinle case from California for an example of how it is done wrong. The man who shot her in the back with a .40 caliber handgun had been deported five times, had seven felony convictions and was on an ICE detainer. He was released from jail because he was in a sanctuary city that did not honor the ICE detainer. The weapon used had been stolen from a federal officer's vehicle days before. Among the harshest critics of local officials at the time this occurred was Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein. 

Unfortunately, a federal law increasing the prison sentences for assholes like this is still - a year later - tied up in petty partisan bickering in Washington.

Government has a duty to protect its citizens. Is it any wonder that a candidate for president who says a man like the one cited above ought to be deported, or face lengthy imprisonment when he refuses to stay deported gains a measure of support from citizens - and non-citizens - who are tired of their daughter's last words being "Help, Daddy" after she's been shot?