“I’ve seen him out there working as a commander in a cruiser taking calls, backing officers during critical incidents and continuing to go out and support the community.”
That is Esteban Moreno, a retired police officer from the Grand Rapids Police Department speaking out on behalf of Grand Rapids Police Department Captain Curt Vanderkooi, who is responsible for contacting Immigration Customs and Enforcement last November on Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, a U.S. citizen and combat veteran. After he contacted ICE, the veteran was then held for three days under the threat of deportation.
Pending investigation, interim police chief, David Kiddle placed Vanderkooi on administrative leave.
“I think what needs to happen is they need to get all the information out there, the information that is pertinent to this deal and to truly, truly, set light on what happened. Because its all going on Captain Vanderkooi and its totally wrong.”
Vanderkooi, who was not assigned to the case, but serves as the department’s liaison to ICE asked ICE to check the veteran’s legal status, even though the veteran had been arrested with his U.S passport in his possession. J.R Martin, a resident of Grand Rapids urged officials to stop working with ICE.
“I would urge the city of Grand Rapids to stand against white supremacy and fire Curt Vanderkooi who has an established clearly visible record of harassing people of color in West Michigan for years and years.”
In 2011 and 2012, two separate lawsuits were filed against Vanderkooi alleging he photographed and fingerprinted two separate minors without lawful consent. Both cases involved young African American men. According to court records, the cases were dismissed because GRPD had an existing policy requiring officers to photograph and fingerprint a suspect before issuing a citation when the individual has no identification.
Michelle Jokisch Polo, WGVU News
