Posted Apr 30, 2020, at 5:12 PM
Hauling 430 people to jail last year for minor driving infractions did not make Bastrop County any safer.
It did not lead to a reduction in fatal crashes, even though that was the flimsy motive Bastrop Sheriff Maurice Cook offered for ordering deputies last year to arrest people who are driving without a valid license or without insurance.
To the contrary, Cook’s policy has meant additional costs to taxpayers to jail people on charges normally handled by tickets and fines. The uneven use of these arrests, overwhelmingly affecting Hispanic drivers in majority-white Bastrop County, reeks of racial profiling. And as the Statesman’s Brandon Mulder recently reported, the policy led to a seven-fold increase in deportations stemming from Bastrop traffic stops, poisoning the Hispanic community’s trust in local law enforcement.
“Whenever there’s something going on and the cops should be called, we’d rather not,” said Bastrop resident Miriam Jaimes, whose husband awaits deportation after his traffic-stop arrest in December. “No one wants to be taken away from their family.”
We saw a sneak preview of this policy back in 2018, when the Bastrop sheriff ordered a daylong traffic sweep that suspiciously resembled a roundup of undocumented immigrants. As we noted then, such sweeps send a chilling message to Hispanics, and particularly undocumented residents: Stay out of sight; law enforcement isn’t on your side.
We recognize that people driving without a valid license or insurance are violating the law. But we expect law enforcement’s response to be proportional to the severity of the offense. For Class C misdemeanors, which carry no threat of jail time for first-time offenders, a ticket and fine should suffice.
As we’ve noted before, arrests for these infractions cost the community — in added jail expenses and lost patrol time while deputies are driving people to jail — and they make it harder for people to keep the jobs needed to support their families and pay their legal bills. When these arrests target undocumented immigrants, people are less likely to report more serious crimes or come forward as witnesses, leaving us all less safe.
The numbers tell the story, even if Cook won’t own up to it. The Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office needs to focus on policing efforts that protect members of the community — and leave immigration enforcement to the feds.
Statement from Mike Renck
Democratic candidate for
Bastrop County sheriff
We have enough serious crimes in Bastrop County to keep the Sheriff’s office more than busy. Spending time, personnel, and taxpayer money chasing after certain people with broken taillights or other minor infractions because they may be undocumented does not make Bastrop County safer. Personally, I find it appalling that the current sheriff, or any law enforcement officer, would plan and carry out such a discriminatory practice.
As sheriff I will focus on investigating and preventing felony crimes against people and property in Bastrop County without regard to race or citizenship status.
The state sanctuary cities ban requires local law enforcement in Texas to cooperate with federal immigration officials. As a retired federal law enforcement officer, it goes without saying that I will work with them. What is not required, and what I will not do, is use limited county resources to do the federal government’s job.
