Don't feed the trolls!

Peace

Maybe someday you will understand why Jesus, while on the cross before his last breath, offered the “criminal” next to Him a place in heaven.

Last fall the Arizona Republic recorded the actions of Sheriff Joe in his raid on City Hall in Mesa, Arizona, and the regional library – leading about 60 deputies in bulletproof vests with semi-automatic weapons to arrest several cleaning workers, outraging the Mesa city Mayor (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/a...). I think the non-partisan report by the Goldwater Institute regarding Arpaio's force's ineffectiveness proves absolutely true: “It has diverted resources away from basic law-enforcement functions to highly publicized immigration sweeps, which are ineffective in policing illegal immigration and in reducing crime generally” (report at http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/Artic...).

I hope the conversation alone might be helpful. I'm from Maricopa County Arizona, and consider it shameful what Sheriff Arpaio has gotten away with. He's a thug in the truest sense of the word.

Some facts which might merit your concern and review:
1. Mr. Arpaio's jails have lost their National accreditation for their gross negligence with regard to the standards set for Prisons (http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-10-09/news/...).
2. In a review by The Goldwater Institute (a conservative think-tank founded in the stead of Sen. Barry Goldwater), Sheriff Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office fell grievously short of achieving their charter, instead building a reputation for “self-promotion” and diverting resources “away from basic law-enforcement functions to highly-publicized immigration sweeps.”(http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/AboutUs/ArticleView.aspx?id=2440) The report also states that the “MCSO’s detention facilities are subject to costly lawsuits for excessive use of force and inadequate medical services. Compounding the substantive problems are chronically poor record-keeping and reporting of statistics, coupled with resistance to public disclosure.”
3. The New York Times has written three editorials about the Sheriff, who they have come to call “America's Worst Sheriff.” (http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/am... , http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/opinion/06fri... , http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/business/medi...).

When all is said and done, Arpaio has cost the people of Arizona over $41 million in court fees for legal battles regarding the brutal abuse of prisoners under his watch and subsequent legal battles regarding wrongful deaths (an article discussing the wrongful deaths: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-12-20/news/...). Dozens have died under Sheriff Joe – just a new death last fall and another TWO just this week (http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-11-20/news/... , http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/20...).

Sheriff Joe is an egomaniac, and under his watch Arizona has gone from bad to worse, and to now having one of the highest violent crime rates in the Nation. As these articles point out, Sheriff Joe is part of the problem – not the solution.

-david

________________________________

The New York Times' editorial board published an article calling Arpaio the worst sheriff in the country (http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/am...),
and published another article regarding the uncalled for parading of latin/mexican-american inmates around (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/opinion/06fri...).

Arpaio also has a penchant for the dramatic, and loves notariety – so last December he contracted with Fox Network reality television producers to make a tv show “a prank-fueled effort to bring nonviolent offenders with outstanding warrants in or near Phoenix to justice.”

The New York Times had a response to that as well (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/business/medi...).

But yes, if this is what he is doing, that's no good.

________________________________

Yeah, I am glad that we agee on this bedrock American value– the one that holds that law enforcement shouldn't arrest everybody.

It really makes me proud to be an American that we can agree on that.

Well, we can all agree that the police department shouldn't arrest literally everybody. What is the context for this statement? Outside of Nieto and his ACLU lawyers, I am not seeing the outrage the author describes.

The real beef here seems to be with Arpaio's humiliation of prisoners, which made him an ACLU target in the first place. But nobody particularly cares if prisoners are trotted out in pinstripes or pink boxers, so we get this.

This thing has Jena 6 written all over it. Fool me once, as George W. Bush would eventually say.

Here is another resource about the downsides of Sheriff Joe's antics: http://immigrationpolicy.org/images/File/factch...

I'm hopeful that as these actions are exposed, that Christians across the country will make their voices heard to end these despicable practices.