{"id":93053,"date":"2019-07-10T00:04:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T00:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/aid-to-ice-use-of-lights-discussed-in-town-hall-with-marshals-office\/"},"modified":"2019-07-10T00:04:13","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T00:04:13","slug":"aid-to-ice-use-of-lights-discussed-in-town-hall-with-marshals-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/aid-to-ice-use-of-lights-discussed-in-town-hall-with-marshals-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Aid to ICE, use of lights discussed in town hall with Marshal\u2019s Office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mancos
Mancos Marshal Justen Goodall held a town hall meeting July 2 hearing concerns about the Marshal Office\u2019s interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the use of emergency lights by marshals.<\/span>Erika Alvero\/The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Law officers\u2019 use of emergency lights and their cooperation with federal immigration officials were debated at a crowded town hall hosted by the Mancos Marshal\u2019s Office last week.<\/p>\n

The July 2 meeting came after residents questioned whether officers excessively policed the town and cooperated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is to get public insight, on what you guys like or dislike about the direction the Marshal\u2019s Office is currently going,\u201d Mancos Marshal Justen Goodall said.<\/p>\n

Topics ranged from \u201cproactive policing\u201d to the role the Marshal\u2019s Office should play when federal agents operate in town.<\/p>\n

Several residents posed concerns about use of emergency lights, which Goodall and Sgt. Brad Ray, a deputy marshal, said were part of their preventive practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just not comfortable with proactive policing,\u201d one woman said.<\/p>\n

Goodall said the Marshal\u2019s Office adopted the policy of driving around at night with lights on after reports of vehicle break-ins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started employing driving and patrolling during dusk and nighttime hours with our takedowns (lights) on due to multiple vehicle trespasses that have occurred,\u201d he said. Takedown lights are bright lights on patrol cars used to illuminate someone while shadowing the officer doing the shining.<\/p>\n

The number of reported trespasses has gone down since the office adopted the practice, he said.<\/p>\n

Some residents also felt that the Marshal\u2019s Office was patrolling too much, and officers\u2019 presence intimidated residents and visitors \u2013 including marijuana shop customers.<\/p>\n

However, others appreciated the increased presence of marshals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the days of Mancos being a little sleepy town are long past. \u2026 I love the fact the marshal patrols the street,\u201d one woman said.<\/p>\n

Goodall said town officials directed his office to patrol every street each shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do our best to drive every street, every alley, every shift we work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

ICE detentions questioned<\/div>\n

Several attendees said the Marshal\u2019s Office unnecessarily supported ICE agents who came to town in May and detained two Mancos residents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At a previous Town Board meeting<\/a>, several residents said they felt the town\u2019s law enforcement was profiling people based on race or immigration status, and some continued on that theme.<\/p>\n

One woman asked about racial profiling conducted by the Marshal\u2019s Office, which Goodall denied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no reason that we would target somebody based on their skin color or start an investigation based on their skin color,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s immoral, incorrect and wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gretchen Groenke asked, \u201cUnder what circumstances would you share information with ICE?\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodall replied that federal law required the Marshal\u2019s Office share some information with other law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there is some information-sharing,\u201d he said. \u201cDoes that mean that we go out and do their investigations for them? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

When questioned about the role the Marshal\u2019s Office played in the recent ICE detentions, Goodall said marshals are not allowed to arrest anyone based on immigration status.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot \u2013 as local law enforcement \u2013 detain anybody solely based on an immigration detainer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The office, however, is aware when ICE agents are in town, for the safety of town residents, he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I feel not safe\u2019<\/div>\n

A few attendees said they felt targeted by the Marshal\u2019s Office, and that they were being singled out for no reason. One woman spoke to Ray, alleging that he was following her and that she felt unsafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel not safe,\u201d she said. \u201cIf something happened to my daughter, I wouldn\u2019t call you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray said he was just doing his job, and his actions were based on traffic and road violations, and not any form of profiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI follow cars all day long,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The discussion between the two grew heated and argumentative, however, with Ray alleging that he in turn had been followed and filmed by the woman as well.<\/p>\n

Another man stood to defend the two officers. He told the crowd he was born in Mexico City, had become a naturalized U.S. citizen at 26, and had become well-acquainted with Goodall and Ray within the last decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear individuals trying to blame the race card on these two great public servants, I absolutely feel very, very disgraced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the 1\u00bd-hour meeting, Goodall thanked people for attending.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll take what we\u2019ve learned tonight from the meeting, and pull that to try and continue to build (these) community relations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

ealvero@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

residents share comments, concerns about local law enforcement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5737,6235,6108,5736,5793,5735,5741,5868],"tags":[28,2194,904,83,29,51],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-93053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-illegal-immigrants","category-immigration","category-local-news","category-mancos","category-news","category-newsletter","category-police","tag-headlines","tag-illegal-immigrants","tag-immigration","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter","tag-police"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93053"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=93053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}