ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Mayor Malik Evans along with Rochester Police Chief David Smith said an officer with Rochester Police may have violated the city’s policy in assisting in federal officers in the enforcement of immigration laws.

According to Smith and Evans, on Monday, March 24, Rochester Police received an emergency request for backup by Border Patrol at a traffic stop on Whitney Street.

At around 6:03 p.m. that night, Border Patrol dispatcher called 911 to request a emergency response for the Border Patrol Officers at the scene, Smith said.

A couple minutes later, an RPD supervisor arrived along with other officers. Upon arrival, the RPD supervisor canceled the emergency response immediately, according to Smith.

Smith said after reviewing the bodycam footage, he finds it “concerning” that there was a lack of urgency from Border Patrol and that RPD Officers went out of view of the bodycam and were the ones initiating contact with the people in the van, verbally directing the people in the car to get out and helped handcuff them, which violates their policy.

The people in the van were arrested, but Smith said he does not have any other information on them at this time.

The night after the incident, the RPD supervisor at the scene debriefed the officers and provided additional training on those types of situations. In an email, the supervisor said: “If this happens again, we are not to remove people from vehicles, handcuff subjects and are absolutely not to be detaining them.”

These officers will not go back on the road until the training is complete and every RPD officer will receive extra training according to Evans and Smith.

Evans said he learned of this information Wednesday after a person from the community called him. After learning of this, he said he called Smith to look into it, who ordered an internal investigation and has been reviewing the body worn camera footage.

“It is our jobs to make sure that we follow our policies,” said Evans. “And our policy clearly states that the Rochester Police department is not responsible and does not engage in enforcement of immigration laws.”

Here is the full press conference where Evans and Smith revealed this information: