110 ICE agents will use body cameras to prevent “trivial complaints” about their performance Univision Immigration News

Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) 110 agencies will soon begin using body cameras, which will record their activities in planned activities in three cities across the country, as part of a six-month pilot program that aims to “enhance transparency” and strengthen their performance. And analyze incidents. , Prevent “trivial complaints” and “Reducing hostility” with the public.

Starting with the components of the National Security Investigation (HSI) unit, the deployment of these cameras will occur in stages. Houston, New York and Newark (New Jersey). Thereafter, officers from the Enforcement and Removal Operations Unit (ERO) responsible for arresting undocumented fugitives will participate. Atlanta, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

There is no exact date yet to start this project. The company said it was in talks with a union representing ICE officials.

“ICE issues an important statement through its body camera pilot that transparency and accountability are essential components of our ability to carry out our law enforcement mission and keep communities safe,” said Alejandro Myorgos, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Inside A statement.

“While we build trust in the communities we serve, the department will continue to look for ways to ensure the safety of our staff, our state and local partners and the public,” the official added.

With an annual budget of $ 8 billion, ICE has More than 20,000 agents and support staff With more than 400 offices in several countries, including the United States and Mexico and El Salvador.

Therefore, this pilot project represents only a small part of all your officers in the field. Those selected will receive training in device usage, ICE policies, legal considerations, and video storage. They wear cameras on bulletproof vests, helmets and shirts. Instructors, supervisors and administrators will be rejected.

ICE hopes that those records will allow it Record a function in full, From the beginning, even the arrest and interrogation of prisoners. In addition, they plan to use the material to assess police behavior and to train cases and other components, including the use of force.

In practice, immigration agents have to activate the cameras at the beginning of the process and turn them off until it can. If an officer does not operate the device or interrupts the recording, a report must be provided as to why it occurred. They should inform their contacts that they are being filmed.

ICE staff should not register in deliberately restricted areas Alternative rooms, medical facilities and bathrooms. They should not be used during covert operations or in situations “endangering the safety of the officer or the public.”

All data captured by body cameras during the pilot, whether it is qualified or not, will be stored and protected on a computer or media designated by ICE.

This pilot project is expected to register Arrests, search warrants, interrogations and brief detentions.

An internal evaluation ICE, released in November, notes that the initiative could have “many potential benefits” such as helping to objectively determine what happened during a meeting with law enforcement agencies, preventing accusations and “trivial complaints”, improving training and “contributing to a ‘civilization'”. Effect on civil-law enforcement interactions by mitigation.

Other positive effects include strengthening the performance and accountability of ICE staff, “influencing public behavior” and strengthening officers’ “awareness” and security and facilitating incident review.

Day d. Johnson, ICE Executive Director, said: “This is an effort to increase transparency between ICE and the communities we serve, to enhance the security of officers and to fulfill our commitment to accountability.”

With the advent of the new federal government, ICE testing has been significantly reduced. A new regulation The company has been establishing since last November 29th No immigrant can be deported for the simple fact of being undocumented.