Latest news with #officerSafety
CBS News
11 hours ago
- CBS News
Fontana police chief warns of misidentifying local law enforcement with ICE agents
The chief of the Fontana Police Department said officer safety is at risk as department officers are being confused for ICE or federal agents involved in immigration enforcement, mostly as misinformation spreads through social media, he said. Chief Michael Dorsey said at a Thursday news conference that these misunderstandings have led to people disrupting active police duties unrelated to ICE immigration operations. "As your chief of police, let me be clear, the Fontana Police Department is committed to protecting and serving all members of our community," Dorsey said. "Our mission is to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone who lives, works, or visits our city." The chief gave recent examples of misinformation and misidentification. He said three uniformed police officers working a burglary and trespassing investigation were said on social media to be "knocking door-to-door, asking for immigration paperwork and citizenship, and that just simply isn't true," Dorsey said. He also said there have been undercover officers working criminal investigations that have been surrounded by community members who think they are conducting immigration enforcement. "They are trying to often times arrest criminal violators, nothing to do with immigration enforcement, and they are being surrounded. Their focus is being drawn away from their task at hand and it's creating officer safety issues," Dorsey said. The chief also wanted to allay fears in contacting local police, noting the California Values Act, which states, "California law enforcement agencies shall not use agency or department moneys or personnel to investigate, interrogate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes." "We believe that no one should fear contacting the police to report a crime, seek help, or cooperate in an investigation because of their immigration status," Dorsey said. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department also sent out a similar community message on X, stating "all white vehicles are NOT ICE." The department clarified that they have a fleet of unmarked vehicles in all colors, makes and models, "none of which include immigration enforcement." "We have had two incidents of our sheriff's department personnel targeted while driving our unmarked units and in one case they were run off the road," the department wrote on X.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Daily Mail
'It's just a matter of time before a prison guard is killed': Ex-governor's warning after Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana, 18, 'hurled boiling water over jail officer'
A prison officer will be murdered unless frontline staff get better protection, a former governor warned yesterday after another violent attack behind bars. Professor Ian Acheson took aim at the culture of 'appeasement' of dangerous criminals following an assault at Belmarsh high security prison when Southport triple killer Axel Rudakubana allegedly threw boiling water at a guard. It is understood the 18-year-old was able to boil the water in a kettle in his cell and throw it through a hatch. Staff were alerted by the guard's screams and he was treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich. He was discharged after being treated for minor injuries and will return to work next week. The attack comes just weeks after Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi, 28, threw boiling oil over three guards in a segregation unit at HMP Frankland in County Durham. He then stabbed them with 'homemade weapons', leaving them 'millimetres' from death. Police have opened an investigation. Rudakubana is serving 52 years for killing Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, at a dance class in July last year. Serious assaults on prison officers increased 19 per cent in a year according to Home Office figures. The 18-year-old triple murderer reported carried out the attack at HMP Belmarsh (pictured) in Thamesmead, east London, where he is serving a life sentence Professor Acheson, who led an independent review of Islamist extremism in prisons, called on the Prison Service to put staff protection above prisoners' rights. He said: 'A prisoner having a kettle is not a human right, especially when it could be used as a weapon by somebody who is dangerous. 'There is a forest of red flags accompanying this wretched young man and, given that, I cannot see any reason why he would have been provided with anything other than food and drink delivered to his cell, because the risk he poses is serious and very obvious. 'There has been a recent escalation in violent attacks and it is reasonable to conclude that we are closer to the murder of a prison officer on duty than ever before. That is a real and significant prospect and is one which the Prison Service is ignoring. 'The balance has become completely skewed, particularly at Belmarsh, in favour of the rights of prisoners against the harm they might pose to prison officers. 'That balance is dangerously out of whack and needs to be restored.' It is believed that Rudakubana was in a cell in Belmarsh's healthcare centre when the attack happened. A prison source said it was 'unsurprising' he was in that wing because the nature of his crime and his life sentence would put him at high risk of self-harm. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'Violence in prison will not be tolerated and we will always push for the strongest possible punishment for attacks on our hardworking staff.' But former prison governor Professor Acheson branded the statement as 'delusional, hopeless boiler plate rubbish' adding: 'Not only is it tolerated, it is normalised. People running the Prison Service always talk about overcrowding, but none of these high security prisons are overcrowded – none of them. Something else is going on. 'And I believe that something else is the completely inappropriate appeasement of very dangerous prisoners by leadership who are effectively throwing their frontline staff under the bus.' When Abedi, jailed for life for helping his brother carry out the 2017 suicide bombing, attacked the prison officers at Frankland, they were equipped with only extendable batons and cans of incapacitant spray. He was moved to Belmarsh and is being held in the same segregation unit as Rudakubana. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'The Met is investigating after a prison officer was subject to a serious assault at HMP Belmarsh.'
