Report: Most Prince William residents OK with local immigration policy

More than 80 percent of Prince William residents agree with how police are carrying out the locality’s controversial immigration policy, according to a report presented Tuesday to county supervisors. However, a “substantial minority” are dissatisfied with police or declined to rate their work because they object to the policy itself.

“Both the positive and negative opinions about the department’s performance seem to reflect respondents’ underlying attitudes about immigration issues in the county or the policy itself,” the report said, “rather than any specific knowledge of police actions in implementing the policy.”

The findings come from an interim report by the University of Virginia’s Center for Survey Research, the Police Executive Research Forum and a criminologist from James Madison University.

The police department commissioned that group to conduct a two-year study on the immigration resolution and its effects on the community. The final report is due out next year.

The resolution the Board of County Supervisors initially passed in 2007 required police to ask the immigration status of anyone detained or pulled over during traffic stops if an officer believed the person may be in the U.S. illegally.

The policy sparked outrage, especially among Prince William’s Hispanic residents, and in April 2008 it was amended.

The change required officers to inquire about the immigration status of only people who had been charged with a crime.

Officers, however, could still question those they suspected may be here illegally.

Overall, the report presented Tuesday found that 80.5 percent of those surveyed were satisfied the job police are doing in implementing the immigration policy.

The majority agreed that both the policy was needed and that police have done well in carrying it out.

But, of those who disagreed with the resolution, nearly 50 percent said it was inherently bad and that it inadequately addressed the problems of illegal immigration.

The report also found that more than 60 percent of Prince William police officers had questioned someone about their immigration status, with a majority of officers agreeing that the policy was a “useful tool” in carrying out their job.

However, while 92 percent of officers said their beliefs would have no effect on how they carried out the policy, only 61 percent said they supported it.

“Overall, the initial fear of lawsuits about racial profiling was not realized,” the report said, “and although the implementation had high budget costs and occupied large amounts of senior staff time, it does not appear to have disrupted everyday operations of the department.”

Illegal immigrants made up just 3 percent to 5 percent of those arrested in the county between March and December 2008, the report said.

The small numbers also coincide with a reported 2 percent to 11 percent drop in calls to police about violent crime and disorderly behavior since the policy was enacted.

The county’s Neighborhood Services department showed a 38 percent decline in parking complaints in crowded properties, from 2006 to 2008, the report said.

And there was a drop in reports of loitering at sites where day-laborers could find work, though those complaints may again be on the rise.

The report concludes that the drop in crime could be caused by less wrongdoing, or by fewer people reporting crimes to police.

In addition, the report showed that local Hispanics developed an increasingly negative view of police after the resolution was passed.

It said some illegal immigrants may have left Prince William because of the new regulations.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.