Aurora City Council members approved moving forward with a memorandum of understanding Monday 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 Monday.

The APD and ICE facility have a current MOU, but the new one, if passed in a future regular city council meeting, would lay out more “clear, lawful, organized” guidelines for police responses to the facility.

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 Monday, 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.”

Escaping the ICE facility is a criminal offense, Deputy Chief Mark Hildebrand said.

“That’s why it has no association to immigration, that is a criminal offense,” he said.

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.

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