Numerous critics are packing forums in Phoenix to say they have had enough of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They are tired of his racial profiling tactics against local residents because they are "brown." They wonder why Arpaio and his men aren´t arresting the felonious criminals whose dust covered arrest warrants pile mountainously in his offices. They wonder why he isn´t doing his real job instead of allowing these bad guys to run the streets.
Even Maricopa County Superisor Mary Rose Wilcox has charged Arpaio with violating an agreement with ICE that prohibits racial profiling. Now the Feds are launching an audit this month to finally out Arpaio for his tactics.
Scores of citizens are also signing petitions which call for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to conduct a series of town hall meetings which will allow the public to comment on the sheriff´s practices. They request to be placed on the Board´s agenda on Sept. 17. The petitions also say Arpaio is wasting more that $42M on lawsuits, insurance costs and attorney´s fees, all due to his tactics.
More Bad News for Arpaio: Arpaio´s long time enemy, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, fended off a recall effort launched against him after Gordon challenged Arpaio's immigration-enforcement policies.
Arpaio´s chief of enforcement, Brian Sands, called one of his favorite local reporters at one of his favorite newspapers to say Gordon was lying about the racial profiling. When the reporter reminded Sands that a well respected report was on a "drive along" with one of his deputies and witnessed his deputy committing Racial Profiling, Sands responded using the tried and true excuse, "You can´t believe your lying eyes."
Not that more proof is needed of Arpaios waning popularity, several protestors continue to march outside of Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Phoenix on a daily basis. The demonstrators are demanding Wells Fargo evict Arpaio as a tenant when his extremely costly lease of luxiourious offices is up. Records indicate the existing rent for the luxurious accommodations is $43,000 a month for more than 31,000 square feet. Protestors indicate they are expanding their protests to LA and SF Wells Fargo locations.
References:
Coalition speaks out vs. Arpaio
Sheriff Arpaio's chief airs gripes and excuses
Demonstrators want MCSO evicted; Arpaio says he'll stay put
All of these signs leads one to believe that time is running short for the long tenured Sheriff. His bid for re- election is coming up soon. It sounds like the voters, public officials and the community want a change.
Arpaio fans shouldn´t worry about him however. Sources tell us his "Big Bully" Consulting Company is doing well. He is providing consultative services for prisons and detention centers in Central America, China and Australia.
So do I, arizonian. There is much evidence out there that the majority of his community support his efforts.
ReplyDeleteEven Russell Pearce was re-elected in AZ by a 3 to 1 margin over the person running against him very recently. Arpaio will have few problems being re-elected. Mayor Gordon on the other hand, may have some problems in hi next campaign.
ReplyDeleteWe will see, particularly if the FEDS find his deputies were racial profiling. The reporter saw him with her own eyes! They clearly have the good on herr sheriff now!
ReplyDeleteI read all 3 of your references, none of them stated the following:
ReplyDelete"When the reporter reminded Sands that a well respected report was on a "drive along" with one of his deputies and witnessed his deputy committing Racial Profiling, Sands responded using the tried and true excuse, "You can´t believe your lying eyes."
Give the link.
He'll probably win, but I'll be happy if he doesn't. He doesn't care about the people he's supposed to serve. How would you like it if your local sheriff pulled you over for failure to signal or a broken tail light just to see if he could find something worse? You'd feel pretty upset I bet.
ReplyDeleteLiquid,
ReplyDeleteHere is the complete statement -- what the experienced, well respected writer witnessed, "Abruptly, the detective swerved into the left lane and, coming frighteningly close to the vehicle, used his front beams like search lights on the van's windows, illuminating a crowd of human shadows.
The detective switched on his dashboard's emergency lights. The sheriff's office had caught another load vehicle.
"Failure to signal," the detective said to a Tribune reporter seated beside him. "You saw that."
But the van had NOT switched lanes."
And here is how Sands responded and his reporter friends response:
"The reporter was either asleep at the wheel, so to speak, or he made misstatements or LIES," Sands told me. "A certain series of events can happen and you can MISCHARACTERIZE it. You know that, E.J. He wasn't even near the scene when the actual occurrence happened."
But the article indicated that the reporter was IN the car with the detective.
Finally, he added, "I may be coming on too strong about it. When there are cars a long way down the road and the deputy, he SEES one thing, maybe the reporter SEES something else and it doesn't have anything to do with the suspect vehicle. You've dealt with witnesses, E.J. It's not always conclusive based on what someone thinks they saw."
The Tribune has printed no corrections related to the series. I SPOKE to the reporters involved and to their editor, Patti Epler.
She told me, "They (the Sheriff's Office) have not come to us with ANY specific factual inaccuracies, ANY specific things in the story that they THINK were misleading or where they thought we MAY have misinterpreted. They have NOT pointed out a SINGLE thing wrong with the series."
A few weeks back, Arpaio was asked about the Tribune's report and said, "You CAN´5 always BELIEVE what you read in newspapers."
We can argue over how police agencies should expend their resources when it comes to immigration enforcement. But no matter what a department's policy, its officers, unlike criminals, HAVE TO PLAY BY THE RULES. That's NOT just the law; it's what makes us BETTER than the bad guys.
Later in the Tribune article about the traffic stop, the deputy involved is asked about "probable cause." When he pauses, another deputy is quoted as saying, "He's thinking of something to MAKE UP."
He was kidding, of course. It was a joke.
Just not the ha-ha kind.
The reporter saw what she saw and reported it.
ReplyDeleteThe sheriff and his stormtroopers are characterizing her eye witness report of it as Lies or as I termed it, "you cant believe your lying eyes."
Why would you be upset if you are pulled over for failure to use a turn signal or a broken tail light?? It is the officers responsibility to insure safety to all motorists, and if you are the one being unsafe he ha the right to inform you or ticket you depending on severity. Only those with something to hide would be upset, but they have nobody to blame but themselves.
ReplyDeleteReasonable Doubt Part I: MCSO evolves into an immigration agency
ReplyDeleteThis is the Tribune article in question.
Exert:
HOW IT WORKS
Detective Jesus J. Cosme pressed hard on the gas pedal so that only a couple of feet separated his sport utility vehicle from the van he was tailing.
The navy blue Chrysler wasn’t speeding. Or weaving. Its tail lights worked and the Oregon license plate was clearly displayed. Driving through Wickenburg on U.S. 93 one evening in early January, Cosme said he was certain illegal immigrants filled the van.
But the human smuggling detective could not yet prove it. So Cosme pressured the driver.
He raced up behind the van in his unmarked silver Jeep Commander, waiting for a mistake, for any probable cause to make a stop.
The human smuggling unit does most of its work less than two miles from the Yavapai County line, on rural highways that run to Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
The detectives are focused solely on illegal immigrants, Cosme said.
“Obviously, if there’s a shooting right in front of us we’ll handle it,” he added.
Extreme circumstances aside, Cosme and his 14 human smuggling colleagues work as federal immigration agents.
During its infancy, the unit used roving patrols exclusively to bust “load cars,” the vehicles that transport illegal immigrants.
The U.S. Border Patrol developed the tactic, which involves patrolling likely smuggling routes in large numbers and making traffic stops on suspicious vehicles.
Roving patrols have drawn accusations of racial profiling for the Border Patrol.
And now the sheriff’s office is facing the same criticism.
MCSO’s detectives patrol Old U.S. 80 near Gila Bend and U.S. 60 through Wickenburg looking for large passenger vehicles, primarily vans and SUVs. Does the rear bumper drag from the weight of people packed inside? Are the windows covered up? Once a human smuggling detective has decided to stop a vehicle, arrest reports show, he looks for legal justification. In 2006 and 2007, deputies cited license plate problems as probable cause for nearly a third of 71 traffic stops, a database of criminal immigration arrests compiled by the Tribune shows.
But this year, deputies are frequently using moving violations — crossing the yellow line, failure to yield, for instance — as probable cause, according to the sheriff’s reports to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal immigration agency.
Cosme would ultimately use an alleged moving violation as his probable cause on that January evening. But first he needed to make sure the blue van was indeed what he was after.
Abruptly, the detective swerved into the left lane and, coming frighteningly close to the vehicle, used his front beams like search lights on the van’s windows, illuminating a crowd of human shadows.
The detective switched on his dashboard’s emergency lights. The sheriff’s office had caught another load vehicle.
“Failure to signal,” the detective said to a Tribune reporter seated beside him. “You saw that.”
But the van had not switched lanes.
Cosme had repeatedly called his fellow human smuggling detectives while tailgating the van to update them on the potential bust. The rest of the squad arrived moments after the van pulled into a gas station.
Eight illegal immigrants sat inside, three of them boys in their early teens. The driver, Carlos J. Paniagua-Gonzalez, told detectives he and his friends were headed to Las Vegas to party. Asked to name all his passengers, Paniagua-Gonzalez said he could not.
“I have too many friends,” he added, smiling.
Later that evening, back at the sheriff’s station in Surprise, deputies spent hours running each suspect’s fingerprints through a federal database.
One of the passengers had been caught entering the country illegally more than a dozen times during the past 20 years. His mug shots show how the Mexican national looked as he grew up, from a young man to middle age.
The deputies turned over five of the suspects — the three juveniles and two of their relatives — to federal immigration authorities for deportation. The driver was arrested for suspicion of human smuggling for profit, two of the passengers for conspiring to smuggle themselves.
Sgt. Ryan Baranyos called his superior to report the details on their night’s work.
“What was your (probable cause) on that?” Baranyos shouted to Cosme.
The detective paused, looked at the ceiling and strained to recall what prompted the traffic stop.
“Hold on,” Baranyos said into the phone, then quipped, “he’s thinking of something to make up.”
This is not 'Racial' profiling. It is 'Offender' Profiling, since it is unknown what race or ethnicity the driver is that is being pulled over until the vehicle is stopped.
The facts are there was no weaving, changing lanes, etc. He saw a carload of brown people and LIED when he said they changed lanes.
ReplyDeleteFrom Article:
“Failure to signal,” the detective said to a Tribune reporter seated beside him. “You saw that.”
But the van had not switched lanes.
They even admitted, HE MADE IT UP!
ReplyDeleteFrom Article:
“What was your (probable cause) on that?” Baranyos shouted to Cosme.
The detective paused, looked at the ceiling and strained to recall what prompted the traffic stop.
“Hold on,” Baranyos said into the phone, then quipped, “he’s thinking of something to make up.”
How could he see 'Brown People' in the night with only shadows visible from his headlights from a van with tinted windows??
ReplyDeleteAmazing, the whining never ends with these pro-illegal aiders and abettors.....sigh.
ReplyDelete"Amazing, the whining never ends with these pro-illegal aiders and abettors.....sigh"
ReplyDeleteMAN you ANTI's sure like to be pampered like DIVA's "sigh."
You'll never be satisfied until this WHOLE country is rid of any and every non-white democrat and transformed in the United States Of Mayberry