Burlington chief: ID training for lawmen coming (Burlington Times News)

Burlington chief: ID training for lawmen coming
July 15, 2010 5:56 PM
Robert Boyer / Times-News

July 15--Burlington Police Chief Mike Williams apparently met recently with officials from the Sheriff's Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to discuss what constitutes valid and acceptable identification for drivers during traffic stops.

The meeting came several weeks after Heather Simpson, the daughter of Alamance County Republican Chairman Robert Simpson, witnessed a traffic stop involving a Burlington police officer and two Hispanic women on Trade Street near Fisher Street.

Simpson said Wednesday that she came upon the stop at 10:15 p.m. on May 2.

Simpson said she heard the driver and passenger tell the officer they had no driver's licenses as she waited on Trade Street north of Fisher Street for a traffic light to change. Simpson said her car was pointed south toward Fisher Street; and the women's car was pointed north and blocking the Trade Street entrance to the Allied Churches homeless shelter.

The light turned green, Simpson said, and she left the area before the traffic stop concluded.

Simpson told her father about the stop. Robert Simpson reported the information to Alamance County Commissioner Tim Sutton, who made inquiries with Burlington police and Burlington Mayor Ronnie Wall.

Sutton said Williams told him that the women had a Mexican identification card, and the officer was advised against allowing drivers to drive home without valid licenses.

On Wednesday, Sutton said Wall didn't get back with him, but Williams said local law enforcement needed to get together and sort out the issue.

City Manager Harold Owen confirmed Wednesday evening that the officer didn't cite the driver for driving without a license and allowed the women to drive home, but said he wasn't sure if the stop spurred Williams to seek a meeting with sheriff's and Customs Enforcement officials.

"As I recall from talking to Chief Williams, there just seemed to be some inconsistency in what actually was accepted ID," Owen said.

Sheriff's spokesman Randy Jones said he was out of town when the meeting took place and doesn't know which departments attended.

"I would assume ICE would have been involved in that, and our people I'm sure, but as far as who else, I don't know," he said.