by Steve Reinbrecht

Wow! So far in 2017, about 20 counties have joined the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] agency’s “287(g)” program to cooperate with federal immigration agents.

Although Berks County Sheriff Eric Weaknecht said in March that he wanted to join, our county is not on the latest list.

Berks is home to tens of thousands of Latinos, immigrants of all sorts, and Trump supporters – plus a world-infamous ICE child-detention center -- so you would think our community newspaper, the Reading Eagle, would follow the story.

The idea behind 287(g) is that if people don’t have documents, local deputies would keep them in jail, after they would normally be released, until ICE can show up. 

Although that seems reasonable to some, others criticize the idea. They argue that having local police involved in immigration enforcement will discourage vulnerable people, such as beaten wives and other crime victims, from seeking police help. Others say it violates the Constitution by detaining people without cause.

And some say they are breaking the law and should have their lives torn apart, forgetting that the United States has a proud history of overturning such unreasonable but steadfast laws – like those permitting slavery, or prohibiting women from owning property, or men from having sex with men, or white men from marrying black women, or lately, smoking pot. 

Feds should enforce speed limits in Berks County

by Steve Reinbrecht 

Because of the clear danger that surrounds us all, the federal government should hire thousands of law-enforcement officers to crack down everywhere on drivers who exceed the speed limit.

With its self-proclaimed theme of Law and Order, how can the U.S. government – whose No. 1 priority is to keep us safe – continue to ignore the suffering and death caused by speeding drivers?

The National Safety Council estimates that in 2016, as many as 40,000 people died in motor vehicles crashes, many of which must have involved speeding drivers. I cringe from speeding drivers everywhere – and face it – when you see someone in an Audi, BMW, or Camaro, you can be sure they HAVE been speeding, even if they are not speeding now.

Some local police chiefs might oppose visits by federal officers, here to handle things and disrupt their communities. But then it would be time to get new crimefighters who have the gung-ho, compassion-be-damned attitude needed to get these criminals off our roads.

Don’t tell me that most speeding violators go only a bit above the limit and are otherwise overwhelmingly law-abiding. We are a nation based on the rule of law.

The liberal media will complain that my idea would be terribly expensive. They’d claim that properly enforcing the speed limit would expand government and that it would disrupt daily life for millions. And that it would make people in many communities further fear and hate police.

But don’t give me this liberal tripe about mercy for minor transgressors and improving nonsensical laws instead of enforcing them.

I don’t want any drivers who violate the speeding laws to ever feel safe, because newly hired and empowered federal agents could be around any corner. No law-breakers deserve amnesty.

It should be easier to find out about ICE detentions in Berks County

by Steve Reinbrecht

A young man told me that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers grabbed a friend of his off the street in Reading on Monday and took him to a facility in York.

My friend knows his two brothers as well. The detainee, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, has a baby born here, and has no criminal history, according to my source.

I could not find him on the ICE “detainee tracker” website.

I sent an e-mail to ICE spokesman Adrian Smith, providing the details – the detainee's name, his country and when and where he was nabbed.

Smith called me Thursday. He helped me confirm that I was looking at the proper tracking page. But he said he could not provide information about the incident I was asking about.

He said to make sure I had the proper spelling for the man’s name.

I asked, what if an ICE agent had entered it improperly?

I told him it’s very important for the public to be able to quickly find out about anybody detained or arrested by the government, at any level.

We don’t want people disappearing. That would have been laughable to consider a couple of years ago, but anything seems possible now.

Smith told me he would check and call me back. I didn’t here back by Thursday night.

I also requested, under the federal Freedom of Information Act, a list of everybody ICE has detained in Berks so far.

On the phone, he said he couldn’t give that to me. I hope he sends me a more-formal response to my formal request. 

I find the whole method of getting public information from a government agency shockingly difficult.

I think Smith is trying to do his job within its restraints – he always calls me in response to my queries, in just that doing way more than many public servants have for me on this issue of recent federal immigration activities in Berks [District Attorney John Adams, Reading Mayor Wally Scott, Reading Police Chief Andres Dominguez Jr., and City Council President Jeff Waltman haven't got back to me, if my calls and e-mails are reaching them.]

Berks, Reading officials should say: Sanctuary or not?

by Steve Reinbrecht

Is Reading a sanctuary city? Do police in Berks County ever ask people about their residency or immigration status? I've been calling City Hall and the courthouse, but have not heard from the mayor or district attorney. I think it would be good for the community if they went on the record.

The federal government estimates that about 28,000 people in Berks were born in one of dozens of foreign countries.

I’d bet thousands of undocumented immigrants live here.

The idea of sanctuary cities, where local crimefighters do not ask about immigration or hold people for federal immigration agents, has gained attention after President Trump vowed to stop sending federal funds to them.

Supporters of sanctuary cities say that when local police cooperate with immigration officials or ask about residency status, it discourages people from reporting crime or testifying.

Reading is NOT a sanctuary city, City Clerk Linda Kelleher told me in an e-mail, without elaborating.

Mayor Wally Scott and Reading Police Chief Andres Dominguez Jr. did not return my calls.

The Berks Jail does not hold people for federal immigration agents if they have a “detainer,” Warden Janine Quigley told me in an e-mail.

“We do not hold individuals solely for this reason. Sometimes an incarcerated individual with a Berks sentence or Berks charges also has an ICE detainer; however, once the person is released on the local issue, we begin the discharge process.”

County Commissioner Kevin Barnhardt said the county jail hasn’t honored federal immigration detainers for about eight years, under a policy started by former Warden George Wagner.

District Attorney John Adams did not respond to my inquiries.

In 2010, Adams told bctv.org that being in America illegally does not violate local laws.

“Berks District Attorney John Adams said immigration issues are a federal issue and being in America illegally does not violate state law.

"There are actually provisions in the law to protect crime victims who are here illegally," he said.

“[Former] Reading Police Chief William Heim said illegal immigrants who are not wanted for other reasons should not fear reporting crimes to the police.

“The department does not check immigration status, even during traffic stops, because it considers that to be a responsibility of the federal government, he said."

State Sen. David Argall, who represents Southwestern Berks County, wants to punish communities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration agents.

Argall is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill [SB] 10, which would prevent municipalities from obstructing federal efforts to deport illegal immigrants.

“Under this bill, municipalities and counties would be prohibited from authorizing themselves as ‘sanctuary cities’ as a way to hinder federal efforts to prevent illegal immigration,” he wrote in a newsletter last month.

“Combating the issue of sanctuary cities is critical for the safety and welfare of our residents and communities.”

  

Berks County does have a contract with ICE to detain immigrant families.

Argall's article:

Addressing the issue of sanctuary cities

Immigration has certainly been an important issue that has taken the forefront of discussion at both the state and federal levels.

Over the years I have consistently supported legislation concerning illegal immigration and strict enforcement of provisions for employers and individuals who are found to be living and/or working in the United States illegally, and I will continue to do so. 

Senator Reschenthaler (R-Allegheny/Washington) introduced legislation, which I have co-sponsored, addressing the issue of sanctuary cities in Pennsylvania.  “Under this bill, municipalities and counties would be prohibited from authorizing themselves as “sanctuary cities” as a way to hinder federal efforts to prevent illegal immigration. 

Combatting the issue of sanctuary cities is critical for the safety and welfare of our residents and communities.

Don’t let murders fade from public attention

By Steve Reinbrecht

The Reading Eagle has used a lot of ink and pixels to tell the terrible story of Ryan Stevyn Benjamin, a young teacher apparently murdered and left in a pond in Chester County.

Headlines this month said:

• Her body was found (June 1)
• Her body was identified (June 2)
• The investigation continued (June 3)
• She was ‘so full of life’ (also June 3)
• Shock and sorrow at Juniata College (June 4)
• Police were closing in (June 5)
• A fundraiser (June 7)
• Suspect sought in Chester County death (June 15)

On the other hand, the award-winning local newspaper hasn’t had anything lately about another murder of a young person – that of Saxxon Hopkins, who was 20 when he was found shot to death in an alley in Reading more than two years ago. The paper didn’t write much about his death then and has had little if anything since.

Why pay so much attention this month to the dead woman in the pond in Chester County compared to the scant attention paid the dead man found in the alley in Reading on June 1, 2014?

Was it because no one tried to hide his body, as opposed to Benjamin’s killer or killers, who cold-bloodedly rigged a cinder-block anchor to hide her body? Was it because Benjamin was a college graduate, and worked with children? Was it because Hopkins had a police record? 

Benjamin’s story is sexier, but not representative of murder in Berks County.

The Reading Eagle should vigorously follow all murders – murders! the most horrible of crimes! – no matter the circumstances of the killing or the character of the victim.

Reading doesn’t have many murders, based on state police records, far fewer than one a month:

• 2014: nine [eight by firearms], the year Hopkins died
• 2015: 13 [11 by firearms]
• 2016: one so far

Hopkins’ grandfather James Hopkins died in November. From his obit, it seems to me he might have commented on his grandson’s death. Born in Reading in 1943, James was a Marine, worked for 43 years at a local company and had two sons, six daughters and 18 grandchildren, including Saxxon Hopkins.

As a member of a family like that, Saxxon Hopkin’s unsolved death must still be reverberating.

To get to the truth, the Reading Eagle should give every victim the attention he or she deserves. To treat this young man’s death as non-news is shameful.

Besides a young person dying a violent death, it’s hard to think of an event that causes more shock, grief and pain, in wide ripples. So much so that it’s a public event.

I want to try to understand how a Exeter High School graduate was shot to death on a neighborhood street.

Reading Police Sgt. Jacqueline Flanagan told me Thursday, June 23, that police are investigating Hopkins’ death and had nothing new to report.

Reading police compare well in crime clearances

by Steve Reinbrecht

How does Reading’s police department stack up in crime solving?

I compared the clearance rates reported by three city departments for major crimes in 2014 and 2015, and state totals, using state police data.

During the period, Reading was on par with the state in solving murders. Allentown and Lancaster each had fewer murders to solve than Reading did. Murders provide small data samples.

The Reading department topped the state and Allentown in solving assaults, and did better than all in clearing rapes – to me a good sign of a progressive department.

The Reading department was behind the state in clearing burglaries and robberies. Maybe the Reading officers are duffers. Maybe they’re understaffed. Maybe Reading residents report more of these crimes because they know the Reading police will work on them. Maybe in Allentown, people don’t bother to report robberies and burglaries because they don’t have confidence in the police.

I always hear that these sorts of statistics are unreliable because police chiefs cook the books, misreporting the crimes by calling rapes “assaults,” or robberies “assaults,” or assaults “disorderly conduct.” They might want to under-report crime at a mayor's request or to look like they are doing a good job. Or over-report it to get a bigger budget.

The state police, who compile the data, said the FBI checks the numbers.

“To prevent and discover any over or under reporting of UCR [uniform crime reporting] data, the FBI conducts random audits of agencies that submit data,” Trooper Adam Reed, public information office coordinator.

The state police’s function is to facilitate and provide the electronic system to enter the data.

“We do our best to monitor for any errors or non-reporting and will reach out to any agency that appears to have inaccurate or no information entered,” he wrote.

Ultimately, the FBI sets the guidelines and definitions for the data,” Reed wrote.

I e-mailed the FBI press office but got no reply.

Reading Eagle’s coverage of young man's death is disgraceful

By Steve Reinbrecht

I'm sorry to ask you to imagine something horrible for a moment. Imagine that a 20-year-old Wyomissing High School graduate, a former field hockey player, was found dead at 8 a.m. in a West Reading alley after being shot about five hours earlier.

Do you think the Reading Eagle, Berks County's primary news-gathering institution, would cover the story? What page do you think the editors would run it on?

Do you remember the stories about Saxxon Lee Hopkins a year ago? The Exeter High School graduate, a football player, was found dead about 8 a.m. in a breezeway in Reading after he was shot about 3:30 on a Monday morning. Really.

What could be more horrible for a community to suffer than the murder of a 20-year-old man?

But a year later, the Reading Eagle has barely covered it. The story about Hopkins' death was published June 2, 2014, on Page B3. The next day, a story with little new ran on Page B2. On July 13, his name was listed in a Page B1 wrap-up of city homicides.

Since then, the Eagle newsroom has given no more attention to Saxxon Hopkins. Ignoring Hopkins’ death leaves the Reading Eagle open to charges of insensitivity at best and a “no human involved” mentality at worst.

In 2013, the Eagle proudly organized a Crime Summit, to which the ex-governor came. The event was so important and secret that reporters weren't allowed to know even who was in the closed meetings, much less cover the discussion.

But in Hopkins' case the award-winning pseudo-newspaper provides the most tepid, meager, formulaic coverage of -- a murder! -- the most horrible of crimes! -- the loss of a young man by violence! -- one of 11 homicides in Berks last year.

The problem of marginalizing the deaths of young men of color is not just Berks’, of course. But it is something that good journalism can address and help solve. The Eagle's current attitude mirrors the racism of America's bad old days.

“Homicide had ravaged the country’s black population for a century or more," writes Los Angeles Times reporter Jill Leovy in Ghettocide. [Her 2015 book about crime in Los Angeles is available at a Berks library near you.]

"But it [homicide of black people] was at best a curiosity to the mainstream. The raw agony it visited on thousands of ordinary people was mostly invisible. The consequences were only superficially discussed, the costs seldom tallied.

“Very few murders were covered in the media. Television stations covered more than the papers, but without any particularly particular consistency, and many, many deaths received no mention by any media outlet, especially if the victims were black. It rankled deeply. … ‘Nothing on the news!’ a mother cried, weeping, at the site of a journalist the day after her son was murdered. ‘Please write about it! Please!’ "

On July 15, 2009, Hopkins's mom ran a “Happy 16th Birthday” wish for him in the Eagle.

On July 15, 2014, his parents ran a “Happy 21st Birthday” wish for him in the newspaper, five weeks after he was killed.

Hopkins left behind his parents, a daughter, five brothers and four grandparents.

Friends left obituary messages, which I've edited lightly:

"I remember when Saxxon first came to Northeast Middle School; he was a cool friend to have. I remember the last time I saw him in ... summer school. Every time I look at my diploma it reminds me of Saxxon because me and him went through summer school together in order for us to graduate ... . Prayers to his family and friends."

"I knew this young man several years ago. ... Some people don't know the level of their potential. Hope that whoever is responsible is prosecuted to the fullest extent. Very sad to see something like this."

"Yes, I knew him and all the three families who are in mourning over this. My three grandchildren are cousins to Saxxon. My prayers and heartfelt thoughts and love are with everyone. Very very sad."

The Reading Eagle editors might say, "The police say they have nothing to report."

Would the public accept that response from the police in the death of my hypothetical Wyomissing woman? Isn't it the job of the newspaper to challenge the police on such a refusal to provide information about such an atrocity? I think it is, no matter the truth. And there are always other sources.

In any case, I truly have no doubt the Reading Police Department works hard on every serious crime. Reading Chief Bill Heim recently answered my inquiry saying, " This case is being investigated. There is no media update at this point." But I lack the juice of a reporter from the mighty Eagle.

The Reading Eagle published stories about people on Death Row for murder. It compares the numbers of homicides in Reading and Berks from year to year. 

What is the attitude of the people in the newsroom who decide what to shine the light on? Is the attitude, just let the police do their jobs? We’re not going to look at crime very hard because advertisers don’t like that sort of content? That no humans are involved?

We know about Saxxon's death. Neighbors found his body in a breezeway in the 1100 block of Mulberry Street near Robeson Street. Hopkins was shot several times in the "upper torso." Residents had heard gunshots about 3:30 a.m. but did not see anything.

I want to know more about his life. I want what I think is a too-comfortable public to see something about the loss and grief such atrocities create. Berks needs better journalism.

Perceptions or misperceptions about crime in Reading

by Steve Reinbrecht

For years I have heard people say that fear of crime discourages people from entering Reading to visit the GoggleWorks and other places and events in Berks County’s only city.

[Sometimes I think, and messages at the county orphanage last weekend support this idea, that “fear of crime” is really code for “fear of people who are so different from us.”

Reading, as the county seat and a city with public transportation and the centers of many social services, draws the sorts of people that others might not want to share the street with.

West Reading’s and Hamburg’s downtowns don’t have that problem, said Downtown Improvement District Boss Chuck Broad, a former Reading police chief.

Yet crime is so much easier to blame than prejudice for Reading’s problems. Do you think the governor would show up at a Xenophobia Summit?]

In any case, whizzing bullets and random thuggery are sort of the urban mythology of Reading.

“We need to take away the things that make it attractive for them [criminals] to come here to play with guns, steal what they need, sell drugs to schoolchildren and make so many fear to cross the Penn Street Bridge into the city,” F. Alan Shirk wrote in a letter to the Reading Eagle editor last week.

The Downtown Improvement District recognizes the perception that Reading is dangerous and is concerned about it, Broad said.

It’s tough to change that idea once people have it in their minds, he said, and he believes the local media reinforce – but don’t sensationalize – the idea by reporting crimes.

Even when police statistics show a significant, long-term decline in serious crime, it likely won’t change the public perception of a crime-drenched city, Barry J. Harvey, assistant professor in the criminal justice department at Alvernia University, told the Reading Eagle in January.

"It isn't so much about crime statistics as it is about perception," Harvey said. "The bottom line is if you look at statistics, Reading is really no more violent and no more crime-ridden than many of the cities in Pennsylvania.”

Some people say only non-city Berks residents think the city is too dangerous to visit. Broad said people who come from outside of Berks don’t mention a fear of crime when he chats with them at events.

There is less crime in the downtown area than in some other parts of town, but when a crime occurs in any part of Reading it often gets wrongly associated with downtown, Broad said.

Over the summer, the police officers who work in Reading public schools as resource officers have been reassigned downtown. DID asked for a dedicated police officer to patrol downtown, but the city declined. Police Chief William Heim wrote me that it was a matter of “a matter of cost and resource allocation.” My interpretation: Other parts of the city need police coverage more than downtown.

Some question the idea that many people think the city is too dangerous to enter.

There is no evidence that fear of crime is a significant issue, Kevin Murphy, head of the Berks County Community Foundation, in Reading, told me in an e-mail. 

He said events have good attendance and shops have enough customers.

“A couple of years ago, I took my boys to see ‘Larry The Cable Guy.’ It was a packed house of people who, to my eye, appeared to be residents of our rural areas.”

State Sen. Judy Schwank, a Democrat who represents Reading, said many people harbor fears about going downtown in any city – but that people will visit when there is something fun to do.

“We have had concerts and other events at the Sovereign Center that are sold out. Royals games regularly draw thousands of spectators. And the Goggleworks is lively on the weekends.”