Texas has officially decided that every local cop should moonlight as a junior Border Patrol agent, but Lubbock Police Chief Seth Herman isn’t exactly rushing to buy his officers olive-drab uniforms. SB4, the law that turns illegal entry into a state crime, is technically set to go into effect on May 15. However, Herman basically told the press that the department’s plan for the new law is to sit on their hands and wait for someone—anyone—to explain how this isn’t a legal dumpster fire.
Despite the state’s desperate attempt to have local police solve the border crisis between responding to fender-benders on Slide Road, Herman says the LPD isn’t changing a single protocol. He noted that the law “brings on more questions than it brings on answers,” which is the polite, bureaucratic way of saying the legislation is about as clear as the air during a West Texas dust storm. For now, the LPD will stick to the “established protocols” of calling their federal partners and letting them handle the paperwork.
Of course, the Chief had to address the elephant in the room: racial profiling. He assured everyone that LPD recruits are trained on the “ills and illegalities” of profiling from day one at the academy. It’s comforting to know that a few PowerPoint slides are standing between us and a constitutional crisis, but Herman seems more interested in waiting for “extensive training” and a meeting with the District Attorney before his officers start asking for papers at the local United Supermarkets.
So, while the ACLU and the state of Texas continue their endless legal cage match over who actually gets to deport people, Lubbock’s finest will be staying in their lane. Herman is making it clear that they aren’t touching this mess until the specifics are “relegated”—which is a fancy way of saying they’ll wait until the courts finish arguing so they don’t accidentally get sued into oblivion.
After all, why should our local police bother learning a complicated new state law today when a federal judge will probably just set it on fire tomorrow?
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