Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley announced a new policy Tuesday that changes hiring standards for local law enforcement. Under the first-of-its-kind guideline, candidates for jobs in law enforcement would be flagged if they have recent experience working with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Candidates with such experience would be considered elevated risk and would fail both screening benchmarks.
Pinsley has said the policy is data-driven, citing federal research showing that ICE’s training requirements fall below national standards. Additionally, data indicates a higher rate of incidents with potentially unjustified use of force by ICE officers.
The measurable risk of hiring former ICE officers as law enforcement would cross defined thresholds, explained Pinsley.
The policy would not be a blanket ban. Lehigh County would simply apply the “same objective standards to all candidates with prior law enforcement experience.”
Still, it references research showing that officers often revert to patterns learned during prior training, meaning that retraining may not eliminate risk. Pinsley emphasized that the culture a potential officer was initially shaped in should be a part of the hiring decision.
The policy has not formally been adopted by Lehigh County, but the Controller’s Office is highly recommending that it be applied across all law enforcement agencies.
