Southold Town officials are still working to finalize a public safety procedure for responding to federal immigration enforcement activity, and a draft is not expected before the Aug. 25 Town Board work session, town supervisor Al Krupski told The Suffolk Times on Friday.

The unfinished draft leaves key questions about how information will be communicated throughout the community unresolved, six months after the Greenport ICE raid.

“It’s public safety, we want to make sure it’s done right,” Mr. Krupski said.

At the Aug. 11 work session, officials discussed the possibility that immediate public notifications could increase anxiety, and there was discussion of waiting until information was verified before issue a public statement.

“We don’t want to alarm people,” Mr. Krupski said. “We want to inform people.”

Southold Police Chief Steven Grattan, who was working with Town Attorney Ben Johnson on a communication policy for when outside agencies are active and verified in the town, said he submitted a draft of the policy to the town board earlier this week and has yet to hear back.

The Suffolk Times reached out to Mr. Johnson for comment.

“The police department is going to make a notification to the town governing body,” Chief Grattan said.

The department’s notification would then move through the board, with the broader chain of communication still being worked out by town officials, possibly via text. The text chain is not a confirmed resolution — it’s been discussed at prior work sessions over the past month.

At the town’s work session on Aug. 11 at Town Hall, the board established that the police department itself won’t handle all of the downstream notifications — one call to the town government will be made when outside agency activity is verified in the town.

Mr. Krupski added that the town isn’t going in the direction of the proposed OLA of Eastern Long Island Local Law — for right now. The Local Law is a proposed policy public safety and accountability law concerning federal immigration enforcement operations, particularly ICE activity.

Mr. Krupski told The Suffolk Times that despite the unlikelihood of a draft being finalized for the Aug. 25 work session, if there is a consensus, there’s a chance that voting would take place at the regular session that same night.

“It’s possible — we don’t have it set in stone as of today,” Mr. Krupski continued.

The post Public safety protocol for outside agency activities remains in the works appeared first on The Suffolk Times.

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