HAL NETKIN

LAwatchdog.com, POB 3465, Van Nuys, CA 91407 -- 818-764-5788

July 29, 2005

Councilman Bernard Parks

City Hall Office

200 N. Spring Street, Rm 460

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Dear Councilman Parks:

I attended the town hall meeting last night (Thursday, July 28, 2005) sponsored by BOND in which you were on the guest speaker panel.

You made some astonishing claims which I am sure have damaged your credibility.

You said that Special Order 40 does not hinder in any way, a police officer from arresting an illegal alien suspect. I have attached a copy of the original Special Order 40.

It says Officers shall not initiate police action with the objective of discovering alien status of a person. That's the problem!

While this order seems on the surface to be necessary to protect so called "innocent" illegal aliens, it in fact protects illegal alien gang members.

In the 1930's, the infamous gangster, Al Capone, could never be convicted of murder because intimidated witnesses fearing for their lives, would not come forward. After finding they could not pin anything on Capone, Chicago Police working with the FBI, finally put him in jail on the unlikely charge of income tax evasion -- not the worst thing to be convicted of, but better than nothing.

LAPD officers SHOULD have the right to question suspects just for the purpose of discovering their alien status. If they could, they could turn illegal alien gang members, most who walk because intimidated witnesses won't testify, over to ICE for deportation which would result in the gang population diminishing significantly. As it is, according to Special Order 40 [officers shall not arrest nor book persons for violation of Title 8, Section 1325, of the United States immigration code (illegal entry)]. Thus illegal alien gang members and criminals must commit a crime before their immigration status is determined -- that's like buying insurance after the accident.

You repeatedly passed the illegal alien problem off on the Feds -- that it was their job. When I asked why, if you want the feds to do their job, you voted in 2003 for Councilman Dennis Zine to go to Washington to lobby against the CLEAR act which would have required Los Angeles to cooperate with the Feds to arrest and deport illegal alien criminals and gang members, you implied that no such vote ever took place and said that my statement was inaccurate. To refresh your memory, I have enclosed a copy of the article that appeared in the Daily News proving you wrong.

As the former L.A. Chief of Police, I would think that in the "belief" that the Feds aren't doing their job, you should have taken the initiative to go to Washington in SUPPORT of the CLEAR act.

You challenged the allegation by some of the audience and participants that illegal aliens have taken over the construction industry by pointing out that most construction workers in the White controlled trade unions are White and therefore are the workers one sees at construction sites in your district. Guess what? All those illegal alien workers who work for a fraction of the wages of that of Americans and are paid under the table who are the ones the rest of us see at construction sites,  ARE NOT UNION MEMBERS!

And last but not least, you said that there are more illegal alien Canadians than Hispanics -- which nearly brought the town hall down with laughter.

Respectfully,

Hal Netkin

CC:   Rev Jesse Peterson, Rabbi Nachum Shifrin (U.S. mail)

David Hernandez, Lupe Moreno, Terry Anderson (by email)

Other unnamed recipients (by email)

This is an open letter posted on LAwatchdog.com.