Dozens of ICE Vehicles in Minnesota Lack ‘Necessary’ Lights and Sirens
More than two dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles on the ground in the Minneapolis-St. The Paul area “currently lacks the necessary emergency lights and sirens” to be “compliant with law enforcement requirements,” according to a contract justification published Tuesday in a federal register.
The document justifies ICE’s payment to Whelen Engineering Company, a Connecticut-based company specializing in “emergency warning and lighting technology,” $47,330.49 for 31 “ATLAS1” kits — apparently a typo of ATLAS, the name of the product Whelen sells — which the company’s website describes as an “adaptable travel light and siren kit.” The document explains that the ATLAS kits “would allow vehicles to be immediately operational and compliant with law enforcement requirements to support the current surge operation” of the St. Paul office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which conducts operations in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
“These vehicles were deployed before being permanently upgraded and currently do not have the emergency lights and sirens necessary for operational use,” the document states.
The document also states that due to “the time-sensitive nature of the mission” HSI agents are conducting, having to wait for the agency’s vehicles to be “permanently retrofitted” with lights and sirens “would negatively impact operational readiness, law enforcement officer safety, and public safety.”
HSI’s most recent public manual for officers engaging in “emergency driving” — defined as driving during “official duties” such as low- or high-risk chases that may require breaking speed limits or violating certain traffic laws — appears to have been published in 2012. It states that any HSI vehicle without lights or sirens “may not be used” in emergency driving unless the officer is “monitoring or responding to an event that may have negatively impact or threaten life, health or property or requires immediate intervention. response from law enforcement.
The manual adds that if an HSI officer is driving in an emergency but their vehicle is not equipped with lights or sirens, they “must terminate” their participation in a law enforcement operation, and an officer from another law enforcement agency that has lights and sirens should take over. This HSI agent “can continue to assist in a backup role, if necessary.”
The manual does not specify the exact number or location of lights that must be on an emergency vehicle, but it does say that officers are responsible for reviewing all state laws regarding emergency lights and sirens where they operate. Minnesota state law requires law enforcement and emergency drivers to “sound a siren” and have at least one red light in the front of the vehicle, among other stipulations.
ICE did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
According to the ATLAS kit listing on Whelen’s website, the kit includes several items also sold separately by the company, including headlights and light bars, as well as a siren amplifier and speaker. The kit comes in a portable case resembling a rolling suitcase and a small device with a microphone and buttons to control the other elements of the kit. Whelen describes ATLAS as “designed for quick installation” on any vehicle, regardless of make or model” and ideal for “law enforcement on the go.”
The list comes six days after ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in her car in Minneapolis, sparking massive protests and an influx of right-wing influencers trying to capitalize on the chaos. After Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that hundreds of additional ICE agents would join the 2,000 already in the Minneapolis area, the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul filed a federal lawsuit against DHS and its top officials, asking a judge to stop the state’s ongoing federal immigration enforcement operation.
