Many ICE vehicles in Minnesota do not have the ‘required’ lights and instruments

More than a dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles on the ground in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Area “currently does not have the necessary lighting and emergency equipment” needed to “comply with legal requirements,” according to a contract statement published in the federal register on Tuesday.

The document justifies ICE paying Whelen Engineering Company, a Connecticut-based company that specializes in “emergency warning and lighting technology,” $47,330.49 for 31 “ATLAS1” kits—apparently a typo for ATLAS, the name of a product sold by Whelen—which the company’s website describes as a Sitable Light and “Adrenap Kit Travel.” The document explains that the ATLAS Kits will “allow the vehicles to quickly operate and comply with regulatory requirements to support current operations” at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)’s St. Louis office. Paul, which operates in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota.

“These vehicles were planted before they were permanently retrofitted and currently do not have the emergency lights and instruments required for their use,” the document said.

The document also says that due to the “critical nature of the equipment” that HSI agents operate, waiting to “indefinitely restore” the agency’s vehicles with lights and sirens “could adversely affect operational readiness, police safety and public safety.”

HSI’s latest public handbook for agents conducting “emergency driving”—defined as driving on “legal duties,” such as low- or high-risk pursuits, which may require breaking speed limits or violating certain traffic laws—appears to have been published in 2012. an event that may adversely affect or threaten life, health, or property or that requires an immediate law enforcement response.”

The manual adds that if an HSI officer is driving an emergency but his vehicle does not have lights or sirens, he must “terminate” his participation in law enforcement, and an officer from another law enforcement agency with lights and sirens must take over. This HSI official “can continue to assist in a backup role, if necessary.”

The letter does not specify the exact number or location of lights that must be on an emergency vehicle, but it does say that officers are responsible for reviewing any state regulations for emergency lights and instruments where they operate. Minnesota state law requires law enforcement and emergency drivers to “sound an audible siren” and have at least one red light in front of the vehicle, among other regulations.

ICE did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

According to the ATLAS Kit listing on Whelen’s website, the kit includes several items sold separately by the company, including lightheads and lightbars, as well as a siren amplifier and speaker. The kit comes in a portable suitcase-like case with wheels and a small device with a microphone and buttons to control the other things in the kit. Whelen describes the ATLAS as “designed for quick installation” in any vehicle, regardless of make or model” and is ideal for “law enforcement use on the go.”

The listing comes six days after ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in her car in Minneapolis, sparking massive protests and an influx of right-wing activists trying to capitalize on the chaos. After Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that hundreds of ICE officers will join the 2,000 already in the Minneapolis area, the State of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St.