Former Fountain Green councilman expresses concern about recent ICE raid and police involvement

By James Mitchell

FOUNTAIN GREEN—A Fountain Green resident who commented at the last Fountain Green City Council meeting said immigrants, such as himself, have lost a lot of trust in the North Valley Police Department.

Julio Tapia, a former city councilman and local soccer coach, spoke up after Chief Steve Gray of the North Valley Police Department (NVPD), made his regular report to the city council.

Tapia’s comments were triggered by the NVPD’s recent ride alongs with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and the department’s assistance in the apprehension of immigrants thought to be undocumented on Sept. 30.

“Immigrants such as myself have lost a lot of trust in our law enforcement officers,” Tapia, who has served 12 years in the National Guard, said. “Not everybody feels safe in our community, and not everybody feels safe with our law enforcement.”

He said his children, who are Hispanic, worry they’ll get pulled over. “That just destroys me,” he said. “Politics aside, I think we can do better in our community.”

He turned to Chief Gray and invited him to find another source of funding, referring to the fact that NVPD had the potential of receiving funds from the Department of Homeland Security if it entered into an agreement with ICE.

The Messenger reached out to Tapia for a further statement. “I believe that we as a community can move past this,” Tapia said. “It might be a slow process, as trust is a difficult thing to mend. But with effort and transparency, we can overcome anything.”

The Messenger also reached out to Chief Gray. He said he had been advised not to release any further statements. He referred to his Oct. 7 post on Facebook, in which he stated NVPD had signed a memorandum of understanding to help with federal immigration enforcement in exchange for federal funds (although he reported no funds had been received).

In the post, he described what happened on the night of Sept. 30, when ICE took five Moroni turkey plant worker into custody, and the sorrow he feels over how the arrests occurred.

“Certain tactics employed by immigration officers during the stops, investigations and detentions did not coincide with the values, policies and procedures with North Valley Police Department,” his post said.

NVPD is still very new to Fountain Green, having signed a one-year agreement with the city, effective July 1.

Officers have been active in the community since then, not only on patrol, but also showing a presence at the annual Lamb Day celebration and other events.

In his presentation during the meeting, Chief Gray reported that in September, NVPD received 54 calls for service in the city. Further, he said the additional officer hired to cover Fountain Green had finished officer training and started patrolling this month.