Detained Foreign Nationals
The Pegasus Program, a national local-to-local data exchange begun in 2000 by the National Sheriffs’ Association, offers a simple procedure for law enforcement to rapidly and correctly instruct detained foreign nationals of their rights under internal law.
The procedure, founded on input from the Department of State and state and local law enforcement agencies, manufactures a consular notification rights statement and consular notification fax sheet fitted to the foreign national’s nation and selected language. The main goal of the program is to ascertain smooth information exchange between area law enforcement computers.
The procedure includes providing the arrested/detained foreign national a statement of rights; giving notice of the arrest or detention to the foreign national’s consular representatives; and offering the foreign national’s consular representatives access to the foreign national.
Sheriffs’ departments and local law enforcement agencies have pursued an automated system for obeying and documenting compliance with these mandates. As such, the Pegasus Program created its Consular Notification service, which is accessible to authorized users of the Pegasus system.
Pegasus biometric fingerprint technology is completely integrated into the Pegasus Consular Notification service, in that the fingerprints of illegal alien detainees are electronically obtained and kept with an easy one-finger reader as part of that procedure and illegal aliens admit that notice has been granted by providing a fingerprint.
Over 240 sheriffs’ offices are taking part in Pegasus and can utilize the Consular Notification service for free.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Sheriff (04/06) Vol. 58, No. 2, P. 40; Kelly, Dennis .
