Needham Police Chief John Schlittler is very clear that his department cannot enforce federal law.
“If Immigration is in town we want to make sure that we’re aware, and that we are there, so that we can make sure that our residents are treated fairly and that we can provide resources if needed,” Schlittler told the Select Board in April when delivering his annual report.
In response to an Observer request about how NPD deals with related issues, Schlittler provided written information he has shared with local groups which explains the legal framework.
“Massachusetts law does not provide law enforcement the authority to hold individuals solely based on a federal civil immigration detainer. An ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] civil detainer is not a judicial warrant; it is an administrative request from a federal agency. If ICE provides only a civil detainer (without a judicial warrant), municipal and campus law enforcement in Massachusetts do not have the legal authority to detain the individual.
“If ICE presents a judicially issued federal arrest warrant, law enforcement agencies should treat it the same as any other federal arrest warrant from agencies like the FBI, DEA, or U.S. Marshals. If an individual is suspected of a federal immigration-related crime Massachusetts law enforcement may cooperate with ICE to the same extent they would cooperate with any other federal criminal investigation.”
Schlittler told the board his department is notified by federal authorities if they are coming into Needham. “The biggest thing is having that connection with Immigration so that they will call us and tell us that they’re gonna be here so that there’s a coordinated effort to make sure that everyone’s safe,” he said.
“We’ve had a very good relationship with our federal law enforcement partners. A lot of times they work on task forces so if we deal with bank robberies, car thefts, narcotics, all these task forces have members of the FBI, DEA, Immigration, ATF,” said Schlittler. “So we’ve always had an outstanding relationship with them and they feel comfortable calling us knowing that we’ll answer them. And they understand that we want to be, we’re not involved in the process of enforcing that, but we want to be there just to make sure that our members are treated fairly.”
Schlittler stressed that he wants individuals to feel comfortable going to NPD for assistance. “One of the messages we want to get out to our community is that we want people that are here, that are undocumented, they shouldn’t fear coming to the police department to report a crime. Or if they’ve been a victim of something and fear that we’re gonna enforce federal law, we want them to understand that they can come to us and file any type of complaint,” said Schlittler. “We’re not looking to have them sent to Immigration. We want to make it clear that they’re comfortable to come to us.”
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