Branch also explained that even those law enforcement officers who do receive federal training are only qualified to perform post-incarceration duties, not to act as field officers. Currently, the only two Utah agencies that have utilized that training, known as the 287(g) program, are the sheriff's offices in Weber and Washington counties. Both did so before SB81 was implemented.

Anna Velasquez attended Thursday's meeting with her two children and said she was more concerned about how a particular officer might handle a situation, regardless of agency policy.

"I'm hearing … we're all hearing to not be afraid," Velasquez said. "But we all know that there are cops that will do their own thing."

Velasquez said she worried about being in a situation where she might really need the help of law enforcement but would have to think about "other things" before making a call to the police.

The individual conduct of law enforcement officers, after the implementation of SB81, is a matter being monitored by a variety of groups.

Isabel Rojas, of the Utah Immigrant and Refugee Integration Coalition and Comunidades Unidas, said her groups, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, would be creating a database to track abuses and missteps in upholding the mandates of the new immigration laws. The groups, according to Rojas, will also act as intermediaries "to give community, businesses, landlords and other organizations a safe location in which they can call and report harassment, and any sort of discrimination as it relates to … SB81 legislation."

E-mail: araymond@desnews.com