Rochester leaders scolded local cops for violating their sanctuary city policies after they responded to a request for backup from Border Patrol agents conducting a traffic stop.
Border Patrol asked for emergency police assistance on Monday after pulling over a van with an estimated eight people inside.
Rochester cops responded to the scene with lights and sirens, ordered the suspects out of the vehicle and helped put them in handcuffs, according to local WABC affiliate WHAM.
It was not immediately known why the van was stopped.
But the completely routine police response was enough to raise the ire of Democratic Rochester Mayor Malik Evans, who held a press conference on the incident Wednesday.
“The officers on the scene verbally directed the occupants to get out of the vehicle, and this is against our policy,” he said.
“Our policy is crystal clear. City police officers do not help or participate in federal immigration activities,” he added, noting he personally instructed Police Chief David Smith to remind every member of the force about the policy.
Smith, who also spoke at the press conference, threw his officers under the bus for responding to the call — as well as the Border Patrol agents who initiated the stop.
“From watching the body-worn camera footage, what is concerning to me is despite the fact that we were called, we went lights and sirens,” he said.
“I see in the video a total lack of urgency on the part of multiple Border Patrol officers at the scene.”
Smith then continued admonishing officers for following standard police procedure.
“We are not to be handcuffing subjects,” he said. “We are not to be doing pat frisks on subjects, and we are absolutely not going to be detaining them or putting them into our cars.”
The Rochester Police Locust Club union issued a press release defending the officers’ actions and calling Evans’ statements “a complete overreaction” to what happened.
“As with any law enforcement agency that indicates it has a critical situation in progress within the City of Rochester, officers responded under lights and sirens … expecting their fellow law enforcement officers to be in distress when they got there.”
The union said the occupants of the van “were not complying with agents’ request to exit the vehicle,” which they eventually did “without resistance” when the local cops stepped in to help.
“The officers on scene asked no questions of the occupants about their immigration status or relevant documents. No force was used … Once the scene was secured, that ended RPD’s involvement in the matter,” the statement read.
“The Mayor’s statements today about this incident represent a complete overreaction to what did (and did not) happen on Monday. The Locust Club members who responded did absolutely nothing wrong, other than to answer a call for help from another agency.”
Rochester’s sanctuary city resolution was first adopted in 1986 and reaffirmed in 2017, according to the outlet. The Rochester Police Department is prohibited — under General Order 501 — from enforcing federal immigration laws.
