Oh, here's another one - remember all those detectives that were investigating "massage parlors"? They waited until AFTER they had sex with the prostitutes to arrest them!
I am a proud member of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Posse. I was part of that prostitution detail. The above statement is a lie. The prostitutes had discovered that Scottsdale PD had a policy that they couldn't get completely naked, so that word spread, and the first thing they would do for any potential customer was make them get naked. We got permission to get naked as part of our investigation. The plan was to wait until the prostitute made the offer of sex for money and then to back out of the deal. That plan was executed flawlessly time after time, and all the evidence was built up, and finally we had a big weekend detail where we arrested hundreds of people simultaneously at locations all over Maricopa County. Everything was looking good until County Attorney Rick Romley, who didn't have a good relationship with the Sheriff, threw out every one of the cases for some reason known only to him. Luckily we have Andrew Thomas as our County Attorney now, and he works well with the Sheriff.
The proof that the above statement is a lie is that it is illegal to have sex with a prostitute, and Sheriff's Deputies cannot perform illegal acts.
Sheriff Arpaio did not "support" Janet Napolitano during her run for Governor. He made a statement asking people to stop the vicious attacks on her. There's a big difference.
Sheriff Arpaio is definitely not a liberal.
The inmates in Tent City are people charged with non-violent offenses, so they don't need to be inside the higher-security jails. Some of them are awaiting trial and some have been convicted of crimes. One thing that's different about Tent City is that many of the inmates are released to work at jobs during the day and report back there at night to serve their sentence. I went in there on a Posse detail a few years back to search it for contraband. It consists of concrete pads with metal bunks installed, and a big military surplus tent over the whole thing. They used to have swamp coolers in each tent, but the inmates were able to get parts off of them to use as weapons, so they were replaced with big fans. The story about not giving water to the inmates is another lie. Notice the lack of links to confirm it.
Every single lawsuit against the Sheriff has been settled out of court, with the County paying the price. In some cases the price has been millions of dollars. Sheriff Arpaio has said that he would like to see some of the cases go to court so he could demolish them, but the County won't allow that to happen. As a result, there's the appearance of wrongdoing. The restraint chairs, for example, are mentioned over and over. I've transported inmates to jail and booked them, and I've seen these chairs. They're just sturdy metal chairs with straps where they place an inmate who is violent and trying to hurt himself or others. One inmate I saw had a protective helmet on because he had been trying to beat his own head to a pulp on the walls of his cell. The other inmate had a bag over his head because he was trying to spit on everyone. One case often cited is that of Scott Norberg. This guy was high on methamphetamines and got into a big fight with the Detention Officers. After the fight was over, he died of positional asphyxia. This is not uncommon in today's drug culture, and as the article said, the DOs were not found guilty of any wrongdoing.
The Dan Saban allegations are comical. His own mother charged him with rape. The Sheriff's Office merely invesigated the charges.
To #125:
Wow!
Sounds like you've got some sort of axe to grind.
Ever been made to wear pink underwear?.
I believe that many of Sheriff Arpaio's critics (or their family or friends) have been his guests at the County Crossbar Motel. That's just a personal observation. I see them all the time when I'm in uniform. There are 3 different reactions when people notice you're wearing a Sheriff's Office uniform - 1.) Indifference, 2.) People who will wave or come up and say hello, 3.) People who look at you like you just crawled out from under a rock. The critics here seem to be Type 3. You'll notice that the only link they've posted is to a couple of anti-Arpaio websites and to the Phoenix New Times, a free newspaper that you can find in grocery stores and on street corners in the seedier parts of town. It's a hard-left publication, critical of anything or anyone conservative, and isn't fit to line the bottom of a bird cage. A "real" conservative would not use it as a source of news, given its leftie bias.
To #135:
This two month "sting operation" involved over 350 deputies that were pulled off other investigative details and patrol that resulted in 80 cases that have all been declined for prosecution by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
Not sure where the number of 350 came from, but there were probably 20 deputies (if that) working the day to day cases. There may have been 350 deputies and Posse involved in the arrests on that final weekend. And yes, County Attorney Rick Romley refused to prosecute, for no good reason other than (I think) opposition to the Sheriff. He was a disgrace, and I'm glad he's gone.
Lawsuits brought against Arpaio by employees, former employees, inmates, and the families of dead inmates have cost the county millions and Arpaio has misled the public about the cost to taxpayers of lawsuits.
As stated previously, these lawsuits are all settled out of court. The Sheriff is not allowed to fight any of them. Ask the Board of Supervisors why they're costing the County millions, not the Sheriff.
By comparison, the Los Angles County Sheriff's Department, the nation's largest, has half as many on the executive staff.
This is funny. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is the second largest S.O. in the country. I'm sure the executive staff takes hundreds of Deputies and DOs away from patrol, right? Jeez...
Joe and County Attorney Richard Romley have never got along in any way.
Rick Romley is gone. The current County Attorney is Andrew Thomas, who is a true conservative and gets along just fine with the Sheriff.
To #136:
Remember when he installed a web cam in the women's jail right above the toilet? Inmates caught naked on the camera for all the pervs to watch. And these were women awaiting trial not guilt till charged.
Another lie. The webcams were in the corridors looking into the cells, and did not have views of the toilets.
To #138:
Funny thing is, up until a month or so ago, whenever the "posse" would arrest someone, they'd turn around and let 'em go, just like ICE does. When that little-known fact came up, suddenly Joe decided to put 'em into Tent City.
Another lie. Anyone who is arrested is taken to jail. The Posse would never let anyone go. We work under the authority of a sworn Deputy, so we couldn't do that.
To #139:
Let me break it down Barney style since you want to play stupid then. You living there, in Arizona, the state you live in, doesnt mean you're an expert - someone with above average knowledge of something - on the state - again that being the place you live.
These anti-Arpaio folks may live in Arizona, and some may even be some variety of conservative, but they do have an axe to grind for whatever reason, so they come out of the woodwork when anyone mentions the Sheriff. Follow the links (if they give any), look at the information, consider the source, and then make a judgment. I'm (obviously) in favor of the Sheriff. He used to come to our Posse meetingss and answer any questions we might have. He had a staff member who came with him who could answer anything he didn't know or would go find out the answer and contact us later. A few years ago when I was on mall patrol he and his wife were shopping in the mall. He came out (alone) and sat in my car in the parking lot and we had a conversation. He's the Sheriff and I'm just a lowly Posse member, but he took the time to hang around with me for a while just to find out what I thought about the Sheriff's Office and if there was anything I would change about it. I like the guy, and so do the majority of people who know him or hear about him.
Jun. 17, 2006 12:00 AM
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio seemed nonplussed when the crowd he expected to protest his policy of arresting illegal immigrants turned out to be seven people.
"Where's the big protest?" Arpaio said to folks holding signs at his downtown Phoenix offices. Phoenix Copwatch spokesman Sean Whitcomb said most members were working.
"But we're here to say you're misusing the law meant to go after immigrant smugglers," Whitcomb said.
In August, Arizona legislators passed an anti-human-smuggling statute. Later, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said undocumented immigrants suspected of paying coyotes could be prosecuted as conspirators.
"I have the right to enforce the law; you have the right to protest," Arpaio said. "I arrest more illegal immigrants each day than you have protesters."
Kim Smith, Tribune
June 15, 2004
First, the undercover officer handed the suspected prostitute $40. Then he undressed. There was dirty talk, kisses and a massage. Finally, the woman agreed to perform a sex act for an additional $100.
The deal done, the woman should've been hauled off in handcuffs — the charge: Solicitation of prostitution, prosecutors say.
Instead, the posse member continued playing his role for several more minutes, stopping just shy of intercourse.
Nearly 60 women arrested in November during a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office prostitution sting will not be prosecuted because the investigators went too far, the county attorney’s office announced Tuesday.
More than 70 people were arrested Nov. 13 on suspicion of solicitation of prostitution or operating a house of prostitution as part of Operation House Call and Operation Destiny — touted as possibly the nation's largest single-day crackdown on the illicit sex trade.
Authorities said many of the women arrested were operating brothels out of middle-class homes and massage parlors throughout the Valley. More than 30 homes and 10 massage parlors were raided.
In announcing that the women would not be prosecuted, a news release from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said, "the techniques utilized by the undercover sheriff's deputies and posse members undermines prosecution by reducing the likelihood of conviction."
Records detail instances in which deputies or posse members fondled the breasts and genitals of the women and allowed the women to touch their penises with their mouths and hands — all in the hopes of convincing the women they were not law enforcement officers.
Officers going nude is unacceptable, said Barnett Lotstein, special assistant county attorney. Participating in sex acts is that much worse.
"This behavior is not appropriate. We don't approve of it and we never authorized it. I want to make that clear," Lotstein said. "I have never read a report where a law enforcement or a representative went as far as these people did."
The sheriff's captain who organized the sting operation, however, said several prosecutors knew what tactics would be used.
"They had full knowledge of our plan to be nude," said Capt. Don Schneidmiller. "We met with them right from the beginning and more than once. At no point did anybody, anybody, tell me ‘You don't want to do this.’ "
Any touching that was done was initiated by the targets of the sting and there were "mechanisms in place to minimize it and put an end to it," Schneidmiller said.
Schneidmiller declined to elaborate on what behavior was considered acceptable, noting that to do so would give prostitutes the ability to change their behavior accordingly.
He did say, however, that the techniques employed by the posse members and deputies are "consistent" with those used elsewhere in the country.
"I stand behind what my guys did," Schneidmiller said. "You can't be effective now by using what was used eight years ago. I think we're right on track. I'm proud of what we're doing. I have no regrets about any aspect of this operation."
As long as prostitution is against the law, the sheriff's office will continue to make arrests, said Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
"I do my job, politics or no politics and I will continue to do my job, politics or no politics," Arpaio said.
The decision not to prosecute had nothing to do with the sheriff's office, Lotstein said.
In fact, many of the customers arrested during the sting operation have been prosecuted successfully because there were no credibility issues with those cases, Lotstein said.
"This was a substantive issue, not a political issue," Lotstein said. "We would not prosecute any case from any agency using these tactics."
So they stopped short of intercourse, and I guess BJs aren't really sex anymore (thanks, Bill) so technically you're right. It's still unacceptable. And the whole thing was a publicity stunt - in my OPINION.
You call other people liars at the drop of a hat, but I'll not stoop to that with you. However, some of YOUR facts are incorrect - such as the James Seville case. It's been to trial, Arpaio was found guilty of setting that kid up, and now that verdict alone will cost us Maricopa County citizens MILLIONS.
And the denial-of-water story happened the other day supposedly, so you may not be familiar with that particular allegation. It may have only been a one-time thing. However, it's still despicable.
For what its worth, I have a clean record, I have held a secret clearance and am undergoing another one with the US State Department.
Its very cowardly and lazy on your part to resort to calling Arpiao's detractors criminals. Read up. Go to www.phoenixnewtimes.com and pull up the articles by John Dougherty going back over 10 years.
Do some research instead of throwing out lazy cheap shots.
Oh believe me, I'm not criticizing the sherrif at all. I believe incarceration should be a horribly embarassing and humiliating experience. I was just saying that Irish guy is a nut job.
Thanks for takin' the time to respond, in detail.
BTTT