Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Ogden's police chief, who is also a state senator, is making no apologies for his department's intent to enforce Senate Bill 81.
The controversial immigration law was passed two years ago and will go into effect in July. Among other things, it makes harboring or transporting an illegal immigrant a misdemeanor. It also requires county sheriff's offices to make reasonable efforts to identify the immigration status of people booked into Utah jails.
Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner says his officers will do what they can to help the sheriff do that. "There is no reason why we shouldn't tell the sheriff why we believe this person is illegal," he said.
As a state senator, Greiner strongly supported the law when it was being debated and strongly supports it now. "There's nothing in the law that says anything to me that isn't the normal way we do business," he said.
Greiner believes many critics of the law haven't read it nor do they understand its requirements.
Some activists in the past have singled out Ogden police, claiming people have been asked about their immigration status even when pulled over for minor traffic violations.
Police have consistently denied those claims, but there is a question on the department's citation form that asks a person's place of birth. Greiner says it's been a question on the form since the 1970s and has nothing to do with the new law.
The police chief says victims of crimes who are not legal citizens should not be afraid to call police. "There's no law that I'm aware of that says I'm supposed to ask that of a victim, so we're going to do things the way we've always done them. We're going to respond to the victims of a crime. We're going to take the report and we're going to move on," Greiner said.
