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Phoenix Public Safety Manager Jack Harris has been selected to receive a prestigious 2009 IACP Civil Rights award for his courageous and steadfast efforts to protect civil rights. Harris will receive the award during the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) annual conference in Denver, Colorado, Friday, October 2, 2009. The ceremony will be held from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
In a statement issued by IACP, “Chief Harris’ efforts illustrate the highest ideals of law enforcement as an ethical and noble profession that promotes the rights and dignity of all people.” The effectiveness of police departments as they perform various missions spanning law enforcement to community service depends on the trust and confidence of the community. Public trust, cooperation, and partnership between police and citizens are strongest when the community perceives that individual civil and human rights are respected and upheld by police.
Public Safety Manager Harris has led the City of Phoenix in what has become the best practice on mutual aid and immigration reform strategies. In an effort to ensure the continued protection of civil and human rights—regardless of citizenship status, in 2008, Harris led the Phoenix Police Department into an environment that became a national forum regarding law enforcement’s responsibilities in the protection of undocumented persons’ civil rights. This came on the heels of the murder of a Phoenix Police Officer by a Mexican national who had illegally entered Arizona. A discussion on how Phoenix police were to enforce federal immigration laws vaulted to the forefront of a national debate. Assembling a group consisting of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the United States Department of Homeland Security, police labor organizations, legal advisors and community representatives, PSM Harris’ department policy became a bellwether for stressing the importance of protecting not only civil rights, but also First Amendment rights.
Click here to read the IACP recipient notification letter regarding Public Safety Manager Jack Harris.