The rumor: Police have been working with federal agents to check people’s immigration status at the Price Chopper grocery store in Independence.

The reality: Police set up a checkpoint to nab people driving on revoked and suspended licenses — on Independence Avenue.

That a story could spin to such proportions underlines the heightened fear and distrust in immigrant communities around the area — and the country — since Arizona passed a law commissioning local police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants.

In Kansas City, police don’t want the anxiety to interfere with their crime-fighting efforts in the Northeast area, one of the area’s immigrant hubs.

Their greatest source of intelligence, after all, is the community.

That’s one reason that leaders in the Northeast have organized a neighborhood meeting with police tonight.

Police Maj. Anthony Ell will seek to allay their fears with a clear message that his office is more interested in public safety than federal immigration enforcement.

“We want to work on crime and quality-of-life issues with residents in that area,” said Ell, who commands the East Patrol Division. “To do that, we have to establish relationships and have to effectively communicate.”

East Patrol officers have been working hard to fight crime in the Northeast. They trained officers in Spanish, built relationships with business leaders on Independence Avenue and instituted a TIPS Hotline in Spanish.

They don’t want those efforts to go to waste.

Immigration policy is generally the same for Kansas City police and their counterparts in many surrounding communities:

Officers are to notify federal authorities only if they come across an illegal immigrant who has committed a crime. If illegal immigrants are witnesses, victims or even traffic violators, their legal status in the country is irrelevant.

The importance of the policy lies in public safety, according to Ell.

The community’s reluctance to report crime makes it more vulnerable to criminal activity. The Northeast then becomes more dangerous for everyone, leaders say.

But Brother Jim Krause, a Catholic leader working in the Northeast, hears about unreported crimes all the time. Parishioners tell him that when they call police as victims, they are interrogated about their status instead of the crime.

“A number of (immigrants) have been stopped for traffic violations — going through a red light or turning in the wrong place or having a taillight missing,” Krause said. “Finding they don’t have a driver’s license, some of them have been turned over to immigration.”

Ell said that shouldn’t happen, and he acknowledged that officers sometimes have to be reminded about department policy.

The issue isn’t confined to Northeast Kansas City.

Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass said he has heard concerns from residents about abuses, but believes such instances are rare.

“It’s a very complicated and a very emotional issue right now,” he said. “Police all over the country are trying to find the exact place they’re supposed to be. The community is trying to figure out where it’s supposed to be.

“The federal government needs to figure out where it’s supposed to be and give us some sort of guidance on this.”

Meeting information

Police and Northeast area residents will meet at 7 p.m. today at Holy Cross Catholic Church, 5106 St. John Ave.

Measuring fear

A Pew Research Center study, done right after Arizona passed its controversial immigration law, found that nearly 60 percent of Latinos said they worried about themselves, a family member or a close friend being deported. The foreign-born were significantly more likely to say this.

Only 45 percent of Hispanics were confident that police officers in their community treat Hispanics fairly.

One in 10 Hispanics said they have been asked by officers about their immigration status.

Eight in 10 Hispanics said local police should not be involved in identifying undocumented or illegal immigrants.