In a case that has sparked controversy in California, the Belmont Police Division is going through criticism after hiring Felipe Gomes, a Brazilian immigrant with a historical past of home violence, who was just lately arrested on costs of rape below Penal Code 261A1. Gomes, who shouldn’t be a U.S. citizen, was employed as an officer regardless of warnings from native legislation enforcement companies concerning his problematic historical past. This case raises issues in regards to the hiring of non-citizen immigrants in police forces and the Belmont Police Division’s coverage on the backgrounds of officers.
Felipe Gomes was arrested final week on the Belmont Police Headquarters, accused of raping somebody unable to legally consent attributable to a psychological dysfunction. The arrest adopted an investigation right into a case the place the sufferer was unable to present authorized consent for sexual relations attributable to their psychological situation. Previous to his arrest, Gomes had been warned by different native companies, together with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Workplace and East Palo Alto Police, who rejected his software attributable to a previous arrest in 2017 for a home violence incident.
The home violence incident occurred when Gomes and his spouse, who had been married for a 12 months, have been on trip in Florida. Based on police reviews, Gomes grew to become enraged after discovering textual content messages on his spouse’s mobile phone from an ex-boyfriend, and in a match of jealousy, struck her repeatedly within the face and stomach. The police report detailed that Gomes’ spouse suffered a visual bruise on her left cheek and scratches on her proper cheek. Nonetheless, each have been arrested for the incident, though the fees have been later dropped by the prosecutor after a month. The reason for the dismissal of the fees was based mostly on the belief that the sufferer had modified her thoughts, which isn’t an unusual incidence in home violence instances, in keeping with prosecutors. Regardless of this consequence, specialists argue that the historical past of home violence ought to have been a figuring out consider stopping Gomes from being employed as a police officer.
Belmont Police Chief Ken Stenquist publicly defended Gomes’ hiring, arguing that in keeping with the division’s insurance policies, backgrounds that don’t lead to felony costs aren’t mechanically disqualifying. Stenquist identified that in home violence instances like Gomes’, costs are sometimes dropped attributable to modifications within the sufferer’s perspective, and such conditions shouldn’t be thought of an impediment to hiring. Nonetheless, this clarification has been met with criticism from different officers and safety specialists, who imagine that any incident of home violence ought to be a disqualifying issue within the hiring course of for law enforcement officials.
Wealthy Correa, a former police commander in San Francisco and present legislation enforcement recruitment professional, commented that home violence is a conduct that may shortly escalate, and it isn’t applicable to rent somebody with such a background to work in a high-risk atmosphere just like the police. Based on Correa, law enforcement officials should be able to dealing with tense conditions and be pure de-escalators, making a historical past of home violence incompatible with the calls for of police work.
Moreover, the scenario is additional difficult by Gomes’ immigration standing. Regardless of not being a U.S. citizen, Gomes is within the nation on a piece allow, a element that has raised issues amid the continued debates on immigration in the USA. Beneath President Donald Trump’s administration, a strict stance on immigration has been promoted, significantly concerning immigrants’ entry to public positions and safety sectors. Trump’s immigration coverage has been a subject of ongoing dialogue throughout the nation, and this case highlights the tensions surrounding the presence of non-citizen immigrants in legislation enforcement.
California State Senator Nancy Skinner was one of many essential advocates for laws that enables immigrants with a inexperienced card, visa, or everlasting residency to function law enforcement officials, which apparently enabled Gomes’ hiring. This coverage has been considered by some as a constructive step towards integrating immigrants into American society, whereas others, together with some sectors of the Republican group, contemplate it a risk to public security. Within the present context, this Belmont case additional complicates the uncertainty surrounding the choice and hiring course of for legislation enforcement personnel in California.
Regardless of the a number of warnings and rising controversy, Chief Stenquist has insisted that his division follows hiring insurance policies which are authorized and honest. Nonetheless, criticism continues to mount, particularly from these questioning how earlier warnings concerning Gomes have been dealt with and the character of his background. Native authorities in Belmont now face a public debate that would have vital implications for the division’s hiring insurance policies and the group’s belief in its means to guard and serve.
