Am 50/50 on the pink handcuffs. Come on, if you cannot keep something like handcuffs in order, how in the world can you be trusted with a multi-million dollar budget? The Sheriff's Office has never been audited and Arpaio refuses to allow it. Jeez, wish I could run a public institution like that !
Several news organization have tried to get a detailed list of the SO's budget but Arpiao refuses to open it up. His press sect goes against the law and refuses any request for information from newspapers and our wonderful legal system goes along with it!
On and on the SO does what it wants and rarely gets slapped for it. The New Times newspaper here in Phoenix has reported on the numerous abuses by this department and its "leader."
Please do not get me wrong, I agree with many of the things he has done but the many civil rights abuses coupled with the "special" treatment of his political friends is against the law, something that he has sworn to defend. The man is a loose cannon and its just a matter of time before the rest of the citizens see him for what he really is and force him out of office and possibly into his own jail.
JoeA
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/special_reports/arpaio/index.html
Speaking of gutless leaders . . .
The five boneheads who make up the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors are masters of dodging the bullet.
Even though I already knew the answer, I called all five supes last week to ask them what they were doing to open two recently completed jails and support buildings that cost taxpayers (get this!) $500 million.
Not one of the cowards returned my call.
Here's the deal: Prisoners can't be put in the 3,227 beds in the two jails because Maricopa County has been unable to attract the 1,200 detention officers it needs.
This is a huge and embarrassing problem that supervisors are desperately trying to ignore.
While much of the blame for this fiasco lies with Sheriff Joe Arpaio (too few detention officers want to work for the fool), the supervisors are also responsible.
It's the supervisors who set the budget for the sheriff's office. And it's the supervisors who are ultimately responsible for ensuring that a countywide one-fifth-of-a-cent sales tax dedicated to building and operating jails is properly spent.
In an attempt to hire more guards, supervisors last year raised the starting salary to $32,000 a year and lowered the hiring age to 18. But even this hasn't attracted enough new guards to fill the shortfall.
Chris Gerberry, president of the Maricopa County Detention Officers/Deputies Association, says the problem results from Arpaio's vengeful and paranoid management of the MCSO. Bottom line: Arpaio has created a criminal justice crisis in Maricopa County by failing to fulfill his primary obligation as sheriff -- which is to safely operate the county jail system.
So what can the supervisors do to force this duly elected official (however pathetically inept) to run his office properly?
They can freakin' take steps to find out why the MCSO is in such a mess, and then do something about it!
Here's the first step they should immediately take: Order a complete performance and financial audit of the sheriff's office -- something that has never been done since Arpaio came into power in 1992. (It would be unimaginable for an entity of this size to go unaudited for 12-plus years in the private sector!)
Here are the names and phone numbers of the supervisors: Chairman Max Wilson, 602-506-7642; Andy Kunasek, 602-506-7562; Fulton Brock, 602-506-1776; Mary Rose Wilcox, 602-505-7092; and Don Stapley, 602-506-7431.
Call them up. Demand that they audit Arpaio's shop for the first time in history.
E-mail
john.dougherty@newtimes.com, or call 602-229-8445.