So, how many times has a police chief been put on probation over racial profiling?

[rabs]

There is trouble brewing in Lincoln County over allegations of racial profiling by the Ruidoso Downs and Ruidoso cops. It has been happening for about a month now with both legal and illegal residents being pulled over on flimsy pretexts.

The head of the Mexican Consulate in Albuquerque was in town this month to investigate. Last week a human rights group from Santa Fe was also in Ruidoso to advise Hispanos how to respond when stopped by local cops and Border Patrol units which have been spotted more often in the two villages.

The chief of police in Ruidoso Downs is a Hispano, so he may have himself been a victim of racial profiling by the village council.

There is now a climate of fear among the legals and illegals in these two, tourist-oriented villages. It could get worse as the race track season begins on May 30 because a lot of the people who take care of the horses, clean the stables etc. are from Mexico.

------------------------------
Ortiz gets probation

Jim Kalvelage [e-mail]
Posted: 05/11/2010 07:39:19 PM MDT

Ruidoso Downs police chief was asked to resign Monday following a councilor's allegation of racial profiling

Ruidoso Downs Police Chief Alfred Ortiz has been placed on probation for six months after an initial request for his resignation.

The probationary decision, which was unanimously approved by the city council Monday night, followed words of support for the chief from 10 residents.

A reason for placing Ortiz on probation was not provided by city officials. City Attorney H. John Underwood said the matter was a personnel matter.

http://www.ruidosonews.com/ruidoso-breaking_news/ci_15065079

[kenichol]

1. Thanks for sharing

I'm in Otero County, but had heard nothing about this. Was the Santa Fe group "Somos Un Pueblo Unido"...

[rabs]

2. Yes, the group from Santa

was Somos Un Pueblo Unido. The group is coming back this Saturday because the profiling/deportations are continuing.

I know of two new cases, one in Ruidoso where cops detained a passenger in a car whose driver had done a rolling stop at a stop sign. Cops took the passenger to Ruidoso Police Department and held him until a Border Patrol unit arrived and took him away either to Alamo or Chaparral.

That was about 10 days ago. A complaint filed with the Ruidoso Police Department said the detaining cop had reported the man deported looked like a Hispanic and did not speak good English.

The second case was this past Monday (two days ago) in Ruidoso Downs where local cops pulled over the driver of a dumptruck, held him for over two hours on the side of Highway 70 until the Border Patrol arrived. The man was working for a local construction company.

Fyi Univision New Mexico did a three-part report on Ruidoso Downs just days before the Ruidoso Downs police chief (Ortiz) was asked for his resignation and when he refused, the village council went behind closed doors and suspended him for six months.

If you are interested in seeing the Univision TV reports, I can PM you the link, (if it is still working).

[rabs]

3. ACLU has gotten into the act

Profiling case attracts ACLU

Jim Kalvelage [e-mail]
Posted: 05/21/2010 10:28:38 AM MDT


The allegations of racial profiling by Ruidoso Downs police sparked a response from the American Civil Liberties Union.

In a six-page letter to City Attorney H. John Underwood, Police Chief Alfred Ortiz, and two city councilors, the managing attorney for the ACLU of New Mexico, Laura Schauer Ives, said the organization takes the matter very seriously.

"A priority for our organization is to ensure that immigrants and citizens alike can seek out the assistance of local police without fear that they will be scrutinized for immigration status," Ives wrote.

City Councilors Dean Holman and Rene Olivo told Ortiz last month that they had heard racial profiling was occurring.

While Ortiz had raised concerns about racial profiling, Ives said he failed to acknowledge the constitutional constraints on his officers to detain motorists for checking their immigration status.

"Unauthorized presence in the United States is a civil matter and illegal entry into the Unites States is a misdemeanor, a misdemeanor deemed completed upon entry, that obviously occurred outside of a given officer's presence.

Under New Mexico common law, arrests can only be made for misdemeanors committed in the presence of a law enforcement officer," Ives wrote, citing case law.

Stating that the courts have limited state police to only providing information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that was obtained in the course of lawful investigations, she said a lawful investigation would consist of a reasonable suspicion that a felony occurred or a misdemeanor was committed in the officer's presence.

Beyond the scope Ives added that checking for a person's legal status was beyond the scope of a minor traffic stop.

More

http://www.ruidosonews.com/ruidoso-breaking_news/ci_15134688

-----------------------

On Tuesday a representative of the U.S. Department of Justice was in Ruidoso Downs checking out the situation. Do not know what transpired yet, if anything. But with the ACLU now involved, lawsuits could be on the horizon.

[vduhr]

4. Sorry, posted in wrong thread.

[vduhr]

5. This is getting rediculous.

I read this morning that several Albuquerque City Councilors received several hundred hate e-mails because they tried to overturn the Mayor's new policy on checking immigration status on anyone arrested here. Some of the e-mails contained foul language, racial slurs, and one contained a derogatory remark about Obama. The fear and hatred being generated from the right is tearing this country apart.