Special Order 40 prohibited officers from initiating contact with anyone for the sole purpose of learning their immigration status and ruled out arrests for violation of U.S. immigration law. Special Order 40’s survival for nearly 40 years is based on Gates’ conception of the rule as a policing tool, not an immigration policy. “Chief Gates was into the quasi-military, hard-ass approach in dealing with street crime,” Wambaugh, a former LAPD officer, wrote in an email. He continued to speak out in support of Special Order 40, the last time in a speech before the City Council two years before his death in 2010. Defenders of Special Order 40 say it served multiple policing goals.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 05, 2017 11:03 UTC