NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Nashville Police Department Chief John Drake reiterated again Friday that his department didn't work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for traffic stops.
Since May 3, the Tennessee Highway Patrol partnered with ICE for what they called a "public safety effort," which netted 369 traffic stops. Around 10 troopers were assigned to the operation, according to the THP. Those traffic stops resulted in the arrest of 94 undocumented people.
"Our police department had no knowledge of any ICE activity going into this weekend," Drake said. In fact, I was not even aware of any actions going on until about midday Sunday morning when I was contacted by the mayor's office about enforcement going on."
Drake said the department does work with federal agencies at times, but not ICE. Metro Council members hosted a meeting Wednesday that allowed the public to ask questions about the traffic stops and what Metro know and when. Wally Dietz, Metro Legal Director, released a letter indicating that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security only requested extra patrols on Brick Church Park Drive at the Nashville location for customs enforcement on Thursday and a dispatch for that went out on Sunday.
"And hear me when I say this, immigration status is irrelevant to what we do as a police department," Drake said. "We rely on everyone — regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or birthplace — to call us when they need help, to report a crime. And then we have our precision policing model, which is a do no harm approach, where we identify the individuals who are committing crimes, and we do something with them. That means we arrest people who are committing crimes, regardless of race, gender, etc. Those crimes could be anything from a major crime to whatever. From time to time, we have interactions with federal authorities, FBI, ATF and others. We do not work with ICE."
Drake said he wanted Nashvillians, no matter their immigration status, to call the police if they needed help. He noted crime was down this past year 8%.
"To all Nashville residents, if you need help from the police department and you're the victim of a crime, call us because we care about you regardless of where you're from, where you originate from, and immigration status," Drake said. "We want to help you."
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