Is there a masked man with a gun in your neighborhood, claiming to be a federal agent and attempting to take a member of your community?
Now, you can call the Spokane Police Department (SPD) about it.
On July 15, the same day that federal agents arrested nine Spokane community members in connection to the June 11 anti-ICE protests, Police Chief Kevin Hall sent out an all-staff training bulletin that lays out the SPD officer protocol for responding to calls potentially involving immigration enforcement.
“As federal law enforcement officers may be using face masks, unmarked cars and generic police gear while concealing and refusing to identify themselves, any individual may replicate this behavior with little effort,” Hall wrote. “As community fear grows, it will likely lead to increased 911 calls reporting abductions, fights or other disturbances with responding SPD officers being unaware or unsure of whether the incident involves federal law enforcement, criminal imposters or other illegitimate actors.”
It’s not an unfounded fear: since President Donald Trump took office and ICE agents have taken to masked arrests, there has been a wave of ICE impersonations, including attempted kidnappings, robbery and scam phone calls.
Hall didn’t explicitly say it in memo, but when RANGE interviewed him earlier this month, the safety of himself and his officers was on his mind when encountering masked men.
“What if that’s an off-duty officer who’s witnessing that? What if it was me, and I’m armed? I’m gonna take police action against that person,” Hall said, “That’s enormously dangerous for the agents as well as for everybody around them. And, if this continues as, as it seems it will, there will be people who will take advantage of that ambiguity and, like you said, kit up and, and do what people do sometimes when they behave very badly.”
Hall’s memo goes into some detail on officers’ responsibilities in these situations, including verifying the identity of actors in “apparent enforcement action,” by asking for the senior member or supervisor and requesting credentials.
However, if SPD officers find that the masked men taking our community members are actually federal agents, SPD is instructed to “not interfere with federal law enforcement efforts.”
Instead, they’re directed to:
- Maintain public and officer safety with “a level of tactical separation from the federal officers … taking only those actions necessary to preserve the peace and protect lives and property,”
- “De-escalate tensions of all involved,”
- “Provide clear, respectful communication to bystanders, assuring them of the SPD’s neutral role and compliance with state law surrounding immigration enforcement,”
- and collect evidence, documenting all witness statements, getting federal supervisors name and contact if possible and logging the information in the local evidence system.
While SPD officers cannot step in to protect people from federal immigration agents, collecting and storing local evidence could be a critical step to tracking detained community members, as people have disappeared into ICE detention centers across the country, and in some cases, on unlogged flights to prison in El Salvador with no official record, leaving family members without even a place to start looking for their loved ones.
“We recognize the fear and confusion in our community, particularly around questions of which law enforcement agencies are involved and who is taking action,” said Mayor Lisa Brown in a statement to RANGE this afternoon. “While the Spokane Police Department does not have the authority to intervene in the operations of federal agents, officers can support the public by verifying if someone is legitimately identifying as a federal officer. If there are concerns about someone claiming to be a federal agent, our officers can be a resource to assist.”
If folks see a masked person trying to take someone off their streets, “Call 911,” Hall said. “Call 911 if you don’t know what’s happening.”
The protocol can be read in full below. TLDR: the cops won’t stop the feds, but they’ll do their best to stop any fed impersonators.
