America's Most Despicable Sheriff

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is to law enforcement officers what James Dobson is to Christians and Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss is to Washington legislators - a bigoted publicity hound with less conscience than a tobacco lobbyist and fewer scruples than a possum in heat.  Last week the man dubbed by right-wing media outlets as "America's Toughest Sheriff" ordered over 200 Latino immigrants to be chained, dressed in prison stripes, and marched down a public street from a county jail to the detainment camp in a desert industrial zone outside Phoenix, Arizona.  The shackled prisoners were guarded by no less than fifty - fifty! - Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputies wearing full body armor and combat fatigues, and armed with automatic rifles and two canine units!  During the forced march these bewildered and dispirited men and their strutting captors were filmed by television crews.  Yep, Sheriff Joe had set the whole thing up as a way to show the world what rugged stuff he's made of.

From AlterNet:  The massive show of force was pure stagecraft for a blatant and dehumanizing publicity stunt orchestrated by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The MCSO gave no indication that any of the immigrant prisoners were particularly violent or presented a grave danger to the public.  According to a MCSO press release, 220 immigrants were transferred to a “Tent City” surrounded by electrified fencing. "This is a population of criminals more adept perhaps at escape,” Arpaio stated in the press release. “But this is a fence they won’t want to scale because they risk receiving a shock – literally."  From Southern Poverty Law Center:  Humiliating prisoners by putting them on parade began in Imperial Rome. In modern times it’s been widely denounced as a barbarous practice. In March 2003, after the Iraqi government paraded five captured U.S. soldiers in front of television cameras, then U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld protested that it was a violation of the Geneva Convention.  The Phoenix New Times pointed out that Arpaio’s immigrant parade was scheduled for the same day that MCSO Captain Joel Fox was scheduled to appear in court to appeal a $315,000 fine levied against him for channeling an illegal $105,000 campaign donation to the Republican Party in the name of a shadowy entity called the Sheriff’s Command Association.  "Which event do you think average news consumers will remember on Thursday – an administrative hearing concerning a convoluted tale of campaign finance laws, or the image of 200 Mexicans in stripes marching in chains down a public street?" asked the New Times. "Yeah, we thought so, too."

And, if all this weren't enough, Fox Entertainment Group, never known to let taste or intelligence interfere with its tabloid-style television fare, has given Sheriff Joe a starring role in a new reality show called "Smile ... You're Under Arrest!"  From Huffington Post:  A cross between "Punk'd" and "Cops," the program sets up elaborate sting operations to snare people wanted on outstanding warrants.  Actors and undercover deputies play along in faux scenarios where scofflaws are enticed to have a good time; the drama comes when cast members reveal the prank and waiting deputies slap on handcuffs.  Arpaio, who has been accused of being publicity-hungry more than once, says the show is not about fame-seeking.  Oh suuuuure.  From Crooks and Liars:  Yes, the Sheriff Joe featured in this show is the same Maricopa County sheriff who's made a career out of arresting just about every Latino in sight, while driving law enforcement in the county right into the ground, with hundreds of crimes going uninvestigated -- all while nakedly violating federal regulations.  Moreover, he's also incurred the wrath of the ACLU by attempting to terminate a federal consent decree mandating that he maintain conditions at the county jail that meet constitutional minimums. 

Sheriff Joe likes to demonstrate his manly toughness with shaming punishments such as forcing male prisoners to wear pink underwear, making juvenile offenders serve on chain gangs and handle corpses, and requiring inmates - particularly Mexicans - to sleep in tents.  Sheriff Joe is currently the subject of a class action lawsuit by the ACLU for the racial profiling of Latinos.  Sheriff Joe is also being sued by the families of two prisoners who died violently while in his care.  (One young man was slowly beaten to death in full view of the jail's surveillance cameras.)  continued... 

So does Sheriff Joe's tough approach to crimefighting work?  Not really.  According to the Goldwater Institute:  MCSO falls seriously short of fulfilling its mission in all three areas. Although MCSO is adept at self-promotion and is an unquestionably "tough" law-enforcement agency, under its watch violent crime rates recently have soared, both in absolute terms and relative to other jurisdictions... MCSO’s detention facilities are subject to costly lawsuits for excessive use of force and inadequate medical services.

Sheriff Joe, a law enforcement officer swollen with self-importance, consumed with power, and loved by racists everywhere.  He is Dick Cheney with a badge.

(Moondoggie, my psychic Siamese fighting fish, predicts that before the end of 2009 a whistleblower from within MCSO will come forward with damning evidence against Arpaio that will lead to a federal indictment and his subsequent removal from office.)

UPDATE:  AlterNet reports that the House Judiciary Committee is now looking into Sheriff Joe's many abuses of power.

UPDATE PART DEUX:  And now the Justice Department is investigating!  No whistleblower has been mentioned - but it's early days yet.  Moondoggie, my psychic Siamese fighting fish, is absolutely gloating.  Perhaps he'll be leaving me soon for a job on Wall Street.

 

Comments

[Rick]

Go Sheriff Joe...We love you...and we will keep on electing you over and over again...Keep up the good work...put the criminals in tents and keep deporting the illegals.