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Newton police: 'We do not' assist in civil immigration; body-camera pilot RFP closing soon
Summary
Police Chief Timothy Calhoun told the Public Safety Committee that Newton officers are not authorized to assist in civil immigration enforcement, that the department does not honor ICE civil detainers, and that a body-camera RFP is closing soon with a pilot hoped to be operational by the end of summer.
Chief of Police Timothy Calhoun told the committee that the Newton Police Department is not authorized to assist with civil immigration enforcement and does not honor ICE civil detainers.
"We are not authorized to assist in civil immigration in any way, shape, or form, and nor do we," the chief said, adding that officers would be required to intervene only in "narrowly defined" circumstances such as clearly unlawful use of force. He referenced Massachusetts law on duty to intervene as the standard the department would rely on in those cases.
On body cameras, Calhoun said the department is in the middle of an RFP process that "I believe closes either Monday or Tuesday of next week" and that the pilot program could be operational "hopefully by the end of the summer," pending procurement and logistics.
Councilors pressed follow-up questions about whether officers could inadvertently tip off federal agents; the chief and the solicitor described standard arrest processing, the role of fingerprinting in state and federal databases, and the limited legal authority municipalities have over federal enforcement actions.
The committee did not change department policy at the meeting but indicated continued oversight and requested updates on the RFP timeline and pilot rollout.
