Transparency needed to trust police

We noticed an odd crossover theme between local and national news over the last few weeks. Between the shocking assassination at a Minnesota lawmaker's home and Border Patrol/ICE raids in Sandusky, a similar question emerged — is the law enforcement official you're speaking to real, or not? The suspect accused of killing Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and additionally accused of shooting and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home, allegedly did so while disguised as a police officer. Growing up in the U.S., many of us were raised to respect the law enforcement profession and those who wear a badge. To think that someone would take advantage of that to commit murder is pretty sickening. For a migrant in the U.S., whether they are a legal resident or not, their perspective on police might be considerably different. Perhaps they're anxious over the mass deportation push by the Trump administration and potentially being separated from their families. Perhaps they don't speak much, or any, English, or maybe don't have an understanding of U.S. laws or the justice system. All could conceivably make interactions with an immigration enforcement agent a potentially scary and confusing experience. In our opinion, that makes it all the more necessary that those in law enforcement conducting immigration enforcement do their business with clarity and transparency. From what we've seen from federal immigration agents' recent activity in the Sandusky area, that doesn't appear to be the case. In some cases, agents in gear marked "police" and driving marked Border Patrol vehicles made the arrests. But earlier this week, agents in plain clothes — many of whom did not appear to have any police insignia on their vests or clothes — and driving an unmarked vehicle, arrested three people at a grocery store in Sandusky, according to video reviewed by the newspaper and witness statements. Even a natural-born U.S. citizen might be confused if they were approached by officers in such circumstances. Both those who are witnesses to these arrests in the moment and our newspaper, which seeks to follow up on those incidents, seem to get little to no answer from these federal agencies on what exactly is happening, and why. Maybe this level of secrecy is their standard operating procedure, but that doesn't mean it's right. Based on what we've seen in Minnesota, could someone posing as a Border Patrol or ICE agent make a false arrest — essentially kidnap — someone under false pretenses? Is that not possible? How would a person, especially someone who might not be fluent in English, be able to be sure? Something said by Brooklyn Park, Minnesota police Chief Mark Bruley at a press conference after the Minnesota shootings was interesting. "If somebody comes to the door, knocks on the door claiming to be a police officer ... call 911 and confirm the officer belongs there," Bruley said. "If they are a police officer, dispatch will be able to confirm that." Bruley appeared to give that advice as an emergency warning — the lone gunman in police garb was still at large at that time — but that's something many law enforcement agencies encourage people to do at any time. For example, a resident of Sandusky who's doubtful that the person at their door claiming to be an officer can call the Erie County Sheriff's Office dispatch center to verify the legitimacy of that officer. Impersonating a police officer is a crime, so any real instances of this would be something the real police want to know about. It's not clear if there's any similar resource for people dealing with federal agents from agencies like ICE or Border Patrol, though, which appears to be a problem. There are a lot of considerations in play here, but the takeaway is clear: Federal immigration agents must conduct their business with more transparency than what we've seen in recent weeks.