Lakewood Police Department Policy for ICE Cooperation
Does the Lakewood Police Department (LPD) check the ICE database when making arrests, as was common practice before Colorado became a sanctuary state? Would Lakewood Police release a person charged with a crime before Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE could file a detainer, as happened in Georgia with Laken Riley? What does Lakewood PD do if they find someone with uncertain immigration status? What are the processes and policies for Lakewood to cooperate with ICE?
From January 17 to February 7, a series of questions and open records requests were submitted to Lakewood PD to answer these questions. The intent was to establish whether Lakewood was cooperating with ICE or acting as a sanctuary city.
After almost a full month, on Feb 12 at 5:15, right before the big City Council meeting at 7pm, Patrick Freeman, the Senior Police Legal Advisor for the Lakewood PD, called to say they couldn’t understand what was being requested. He said policies were online and could be found there – exact page unspecified. So after emails dated January 17, 24, Feb 7, registered mail and phone calls, the answer was to find the answer yourself on an unindexed website.
Can you find the answers to these questions in one of the links, sub-links, etc. below. Yes, this is a list of approximately 600 links that is the self-service method to answering citizen requests regarding policy.
Freeman repeatedly stressed that he was not trying to be difficult, he just couldn’t understand the request. This is absolutely possible but it is also true that many communication problems can be solved through discussion and questions. However, Freeman said it was not necessary for him to answer any questions. He quoted the open records statute to show there was no requirement for questions to be answered.
Does this mean a state statute needs to be cited in order for Lakewood to answer resident questions?
An exhaustive search of these policies is often impossible for many Lakewood residents and information overload is an effective deterrent. However, a cursory search did not reveal any polices regarding cooperation with any federal agency, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Where are the policies for cooperating with federal agencies?
Since the Lakewood Police Department could not produce any relevant documents in response to the document request, and will not answer questions, how can Lakewood residents know what is going on with their city?
One Lakewood resident says, “I was present at the City Council meeting that Adam Paul declared that Lakewood would never arrest anyone for being an illegal, nor would our police ever refer anyone to ICE —even if arrested. Nor was ID required by the police.” The resident recalls Paul made the statement years ago when Denver declared its sanctuary status. This meeting would be captured on video but is hard to locate after all this time.
Any city that offers sanctuary would not have a policy or procedure since it would not cooperate with ICE.
If Lakewood is not a sanctuary, why do its leaders resist providing substantive policy or procedural information on how they cooperate with ICE? Why does their attorney find it difficult to understand lawful open record requests?
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Read more here about how Lakewood is trying to build trust in the community, including increasing transparency: New Police Philosophy for Lakewood