The National Center for Police Defense (NCPD) recently hand delivered more than 40,000 petitions to U.S. Department of Justice to drop the charges against the former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Apaio. NCPD raised nearly $300,000 to help with Arpaio’s legal defense costs as he faces trail starting Mon., June 26, for contempt of court brought by the ACLU. NCPD will be onsite to monitor the trial as Arpaio’s fate will be solely decided by federal Judge Susan Bolton, unless the United States Supreme Court intervenes to allow Arpaio to have a jury trial. NCPD says this case has been political from the beginning when the Obama DOJ filed their misdemeanor charges against Arpaio just two weeks before the election. This action by the DOJ was a break in longtime tradition and protocol wherein the DOJ typically refrains from taking legal action against an elected official so close to an election in order to avoid influencing the outcome. “With over 55 years of law enforcement experience, Sheriff Arpaio has always followed and enforced the laws on the books. Now, the DOJ wants to put him in prison for enforcing the very laws he swore an oath to uphold,” saysJames Fotis, President of NCPD. “During his 24 years as Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arpaio enforced existing illegal immigration laws. Now the Department of Justice wants to put him behind bars for six months while the very illegal immigrants he has arrested over the years walk free. If the DOJ is successful in prosecuting Sheriff Joe Arpaio, it will be a huge miscarriage of justice and a clear example of political assassination by our federal government against a sitting local elected official. That sets a dangerous precedent and one Judge Bolton should reject.” Contact: Cassandre Durocher with Shirley & Banister Public Affairs at (703) 739-5920