Think it's tough in Charlotte?

In Dallas, police write $204 traffic tickets to drivers who don't speak English.

Thirty- eight motorists, all Hispanic, have been cited for not speaking English since 2007, according to the Dallas Morning News. It’s not a crime, but at least 20 Dallas police officers must have thought it was since they wrote tickets. Most cases were dismissed, but at least one person paid the fine.

The issue came to light last week when a woman told the news media she was cited for being a "non-English-speaking driver," among other offenses, during an Oct. 2 traffic stop, according to the paper. Police officials initially said the trainee officer who ticketed Ernestina Mondragon, 48, a native Spanish speaker and U.S. resident, had made an isolated rookie mistake.

Nope.

On Friday, Police Chief David Kunkle announced that officials had discovered dozens of other cases in which officers cited motorists for not speaking English. Kunkle apologized, promised an investigation and said that pending charges would be dropped and that those who paid fines for the charge would be reimbursed.

Not surprisingly, Hispanic leaders are calling for a deeper investigation of possible racial profiling. Police say they plan to look back several more years and include the supervisors who signed off on the tickets in the investigation for possible dereliction of duty.

No doubt, this issue is going to raise even more questions about the how local law enforcement should deal with immigrants. A New York Times editorial yesterday noted that on one side of the argument are the Obama administration and the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, who believe in outsourcing immigration enforcement to local police departments. On the other side are the ranks of police chiefs around the country who argue there is no good reason for turning cops into immigration agents. The Times agreed, but for entirely different reasons.

Such efforts up to now "have been marred by poor training, racial profiling and other abuses -- and widespread fear in the communities that the police are sworn to protect,” the editorial board wrote. “If there is any remaining doubt, just take a look at what happened in Dallas.”

AP Photo: Ernestina Mondragon.

LA police chief for reform; not 287(g)

Chief William Bratton says passing immigration reform will make "every American neighborhood much safer."

Bratton, one of the most well-known police chiefs in the country, writes in a Los Angeles Times op-ed this morning that he opposes the federal 287(g) program that allows local law enforcement to double as federal immigration agents. He says the program stops immigrants from reporting crimes for fear of being deported.

It’s an interesting move for the outgoing police chief to insert himself into such a controversial debate. He will take some heat for his stance. Bratton, also the former police chief in Boston and New York, has never shied away from the spotlight. He once considered politics in New York, but he told LA Weekly this spring that he wasn't planning to run for office. He has since put his $1.8 million home up for sale and may be moving to Great Britain for a job at Scotland Yard, according to the Times.

He certainly picked a good time for making a big splash. The immigration debate is only expected to pick up as the White House prepares its strategy to pass comprehensive immigration reform next year.

In his column, Bratton also responds to queries about why he didn’t join 287(g) like many other law enforcement agencies. He says the program damages the trust police have with immigrants.

The 287(g) program is run in Charlotte. The Mecklenburg County Sheriff was one of the first to join the program back in 2006. Critics say the program is more often used to nab minor offenders, but it should be noted that the Mecklenburg program is operated in the jail and deputies are not out searching for illegal immigrants – as is the case in some other major cities.

“We must pass immigration reform and bring our neighbors out of the shadows so they get the police service they need and deserve,” Bratton says. “When officers can speak freely with victims and witnesses, it goes a long way toward making every American neighborhood much safer.”

Latino profiling? Not according to stats.

In 2008, 72 official complaints were made against Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers. None of the complaints were by Latinos reporting they felt they were profiled or mistreated because of their ethnicity, police report.

One of the biggest complaints in the Latino community is that some officers target Latino immigrants knowing they could be deported if they’re taken to jail and found to be in the country illegally.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief Rodney Monroe didn’t have the statistics available last month when we reported on crimes going unsolved in Charlotte because immigrants don’t feel safe reporting them.

Chief Monroe said last month that he wanted to improve ties with the Latino community. He is familiar with charges of racial profiling, but he said people who feel they've been mistreated need to report that to him.

Chief Monroe said he understands people may not want to bring more attention to themselves by filing a complaint, but he said if the mistreatment is happening as often as some people claim more people should be coming forward.

“I'm not going to put blinders over my head and automatically deny that issue,” he said. Nor does he want “to condemn the men and women of this organization” without more facts.