Councilman Dennis Zine -- citing Shaw's slaying -- introduced a motion last week calling for Bratton and the department's civilian oversight commission to require officers to check on the immigration status of gang members who are suspected of being in the country illegally -- even if the suspects are not under arrest.
Bratton lashed out at Zine, saying the proposal amounts to "racial profiling." He said that Zine is a reserve officer and "should be very up to speed on this and apparently is not." When police get retrained on the policy, Bratton said, "the first person we will put in the class will be Councilman Dennis Zine."
Zine rejected the chief's suggestion that the proposal would unfairly profile minorities, saying officers would check someone's immigration status only after confirming they were an active gang member.
"With all due respect to the chief, I've been around this department a lot longer than he has -- before Special Order 40 and after it. And I can tell you that there is a lot of confusion about what can be done and what cannot," Zine said. "I am concerned that there is all this resistance from the chief of police about what we're trying to do here."
Bratton said Shaw's death, while tragic, was not the result of Special Order 40. The alleged killer had been arrested previously in Culver City and released from the L.A. County Jail, which is run by the Sheriff's Department.
Without offering specifics, Bratton indicated that his upcoming clarification of the order would specifically address what officers should do when they encounter someone who they know has been arrested, convicted and subsequently deported.
In such cases, he said, officers need to determine whether the person has an outstanding federal arrest warrant for illegal reentry into the country, and, if not, whether federal immigration officials are willing to pursue one.
In several of the department's divisions, most notably in the San Fernando Valley Bureau, anti-gang officers are already working with federal agents, Bratton said.
The clarification of the policy, Bratton said, is part of an overall anti-gang effort by the department. But, he said, his officers would never become the Border Patrol.
"If you are an illegal immigrant out there and basically you are obeying the law and you are not preying on others, you don't have anything to fear from the Los Angeles police in terms of us approaching you solely on the belief you are here illegally," Bratton said.
Bratton acknowledged that his position was likely to infuriate both sides of the immigration debate, but he said he was confident he was acting in the best interest of the community.
"It is a tempest in a teapot," he said of the controversy over the policy. "It is so hopelessly, totally misunderstood by just about everyone."
He said he welcomed the opportunity to clarify the issue.
"It is an opportunity to explain what it is and what it is not," Bratton said. "To calm everyone down. The sky is not falling."
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richard.winton@latimes.com
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Times staff writer Joel Rubin contributed to this report.
