Aurora City Council members delayed a vote Monday on a memorandum of understanding that outlines guidelines for Aurora police officers responding to the GEO Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

Since the facility is in Aurora, the Aurora Police Department is the responding party for detainees who escape the facility, Chief Todd Chamberlain told council members.

The APD and ICE facility have a current MOU outlining how officers respond to those emergencies, but the new one would lay out more “clear, lawful, organized” guidelines for police responses to the facility.

Reasons for police response to the facility could include things like calls about rape in the facility, escapes, civil disturbances and bomb threats, Deputy Chief Mark Hildebrand said Monday.

“Without this document, there would be ambiguity and it becomes difficult to bifurcate what we’re going to do in a criminal response,” he said. “Aurora Police Department does not enforce immigration, which is why it’s important to have this document that explicitly states that but also states that, like at any facility in the city, if there’s a call for service what our response will be and what our obligations are under the law.”

Police officials decided to update the MOU after two detainees escaped the facility last March during a power outage and the department was accused of not responding immediately.

When the incident happened, ICE officials claimed they provided prompt notice and police refused to assist.

“Local authorities were notified immediately and declined to assist with the search,” an ICE spokesperson told Denver Gazette news partner 9News at the time.

Aurora police officials, however, say they did not receive a 911 call from the facility until 2:30 a.m., four to five hours after the men escaped.

“There was a lot of conversation about Aurora police dropping the ball,” Chamberlain said at a study session, referring to the incident one year ago. “Well, we didn’t drop the ball. The call came out hours after they left the facility and it deviated completely from what was in the original MOU.”

The new MOU will ensure there is a clear command structure, communication protocol and legal framework for police responses to situations like the one last March, Chamberlain said.

He added that the MOU does not change the authority of the GEO facility or give Aurora police officers any immigration enforcement power.

“It does not expand the authority whatsoever of the GEO facility,” he said. “One thing I want to make very clear is (APD) is not an immigration enforcement authority. Our officers do not become deputized as federal immigration officers.”

As outlined in City Council documents, the procedure for an escaped detainee involves detention staff notifying police with pertinent information about the escapee and police conducting a threat assessment to determine the response.

Factors for determining the threat level include the nature of the offense and criminal history of the escapee, risk to public safety, time elapsed since their escape and the number of escapees.

Councilmember Gianina Horton requested that the council delay a vote on the MOU until the next council meeting, saying she wanted the public to have more time to go over it and understand it before the council moved forward with it.

“It is very vital that we treat this with the utmost scrutiny and have as much public input into what this looks like,” Horton said. “There’s a lot of opportunity here to proactively, reactively engage the public to understand the true impact of what this MOU would do and determine where there may be some excessive agreements that could be refined.”

Councilmember Francoise Bergan argued that the item went through a policy committee meeting and a study session, saying people had plenty of time.

If the council decides to make any changes to the MOU, GEO detention center officials would have to agree to it, City Attorney Pete Schulte said.

The full MOU can be read in council documents on the city’s website.