bjturk.commentary: arpaio, enough!

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this bjturk.commentary:
arpaio, enough!

Some years ago, I wrote another commentary (entitled "is joe arpaio america's toughest sheriff?") supporting Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio. After several people have written to me about that, and because an election is about to take place, I have found that it would be a good time to re-visit that commentary, and perhaps expand on it to some degree. In short, my opinion has changed. I should note that this is my opinion only, and I have not been asked nor paid to write the following, nor has anyone suggested that I do so.

Since that first commentary, a number of very bad things have taken place in Arpaio's jails that bear mentioning. First among them is that a number of inmates have died while in custody, in numbers that seem to be higher than one would normally expect. Some have died while restrained in special chairs, some have died through suicide, and some have died in scuffles with deputies. Realistically, some of these deaths probably could not have been prevented. For example, someone who is determined to kill himself will eventually succeed, no matter what. Even if we allow for those, it's the other deaths that concern me.

It boggles my mind that any inmate could be so uncontrollable that deputies in any number would have employ methods that could potentially be fatal. I'll grant that some people under the influence of certain drugs can act in ways and with strength that most normal people simply could not, but is that an excuse? People in custody deserves a modicum of protection, if only from themselves, but such protection fails when the methods to protect them become more dangerous than the threat they present. If any inmate goes so wild as to be uncontrollable, the wise thing to do is to isolate the inmate, somehow and somewhere, and let him burn off steam. At a minimum, this gives deputies the chance to re-think their methods and procedures and perhaps find a better, and safer, means of regaining control.

In too many cases, the deputies have gone too far, and people have died. This is not just tragic, but irresponsible. For all of his innovations, Arpaio has failed to develop effective means to control difficult prosoners without killing them. As the man in charge, he must bear the responsibility for the actions of his deputies, just as he is so quick to take the credit for their successes. Arpaio appears to be at the head of a department that is out of control, and in some ways, it seems that the department is a reflection of Arpaio himself. This is not a good thing.

There are many people who have threatened his life. For a man in his position, this means (to me) that he must be doing something right. People in law enforcement have to expect a degree of hatred from those they send to jail or to prison. However, this hatred toward Arpaio has resulted in numerous death threats. These threats against the sheriff are taken very seriously, as they should be. They are so numerous and credible that there is a detail in the department that does little else but investigate threats made against the sheriff. I don't have a problem with that. It's the other things that this detail seems to have done that really worry me, though.

I recently read a story in a local newspaper about how this detail began an investigation into a several-decade-old allegation of sexual assault that was lodged against a political opponent of Arpaio. That's right. Sheriff Arpaio was up for re-election, and the man in question was running for the same office. Ethically, doesn't it seem that such an allegation should be investigated by another agency? This apparently mattered little to Arpaio's protection detail.

According to the story, when the detail went to interview the woman making the allegation, she talked first about politics, and then eventually got around to the complaint itself. One of the deputies investigating determined, rightly so, that even if the allegation were true, the statute of limitations had long since expired and no prosecution was possible. When he told this to the lieutenant in charge of the detail and that there was no point in writing up a report, the lieutenant ordered him to write the report anyway. Mysteriously, a local television reporter was tipped off that he should get a copy of the report, but wasn't told what the report was about. The reporter then used it to ambush the candidate on camera. It turns out that not only was the charge completely false, he was the one who had been molested by the woman who filed the complaint (he was underage at the time), and that he had never reported the assault because he didn't think anyone would believe him. Apparently, he was right. The reporter was later fired, but the damage had been done. To my knowledge, no changes have been made in Arpaio's protection detail, though I believe the deputy who did not want to write the report in the first place may have left the department.

This isn't the first political opponent of Arpaio's that his detail has gone after, and if he is re-elected, it probably won't be the last. It's time for a change. Arpaio has, generally speaking, done some pretty good things with the department. However, his department has made a lot of mistakes under his leadership (or lack thereof), and he is responsible for those failures too. It's time for him to go. He has run out of ideas, and seems to have slipped into desperation. If there's anything that Maricopa County doesn't need, it's a man past his prime and out of ideas, trying to hold onto an office in which he can no longer effectively perform. I once admired and respected the man, but my admiration has faded and my respect is gone. It would have been better if he had retired than to run for what I hope will be the last time.

The pink underwear and striped uniforms the inmates wear in his tent city jails while eating their bologna lunches for lunch doesn't make a legacy. Leaving the jails, and the department, better than before would be a legacy. With the possible exception of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Posse, which he created to augment the department's sworn deputies, he hasn't done that, and he does not appear to know how to restore the respect the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office once held. For those reasons, I can no longer support him.

I'm sorry, Joe, but it you're not America's Toughest Sheriff anymore. You're America's Most Desperate Sheriff, and you need to go. Since you won't retire on your own terms, it's time for you to be retired by Maricopa County's voters.

* * * * * UPDATE * * * * *

Damn the luck.

It looks like we may be stuck with Joe for another four years after all. For reasons that I can't fathom, he beat his opponent in the primary, and faces an unknown Democrat and a relatively well-known independent in the general election. Given that Maricopa County is heavily Republican, it's a fait accompli that Joe will get another four years. The only hope for voters here is that the independent, a former radio DJ with a strong following and who has remained in the spotlight, can pull enough voters over to unseat Arpaio. I'm not hopeful.

Are we in such a narrow-minded society that we will elect an incompetent simply because of the party he purports to represent? This man has become a loose cannon, and his primary opponent had the ability and experience to do the job. There are times when the right thing, the responsible thing, is to turn out the incumbent. We blew it this time.

Oh, well. There's always 2008...

* * * * * UPDATE #2 * * * * *

I was right. He took the general election with over half of the vote overall. I guess too many uneducated Republicans showed up at the polls. I don't know how we'll get through the next four years, but I'm hopeful that he will then be retiring. He may turn out to be Arizona's version of J. Edgar Hoover, minus the women's clothes and plus having to be elected. Some guys just don't know when to quit. Hoover didn't, and I don't think Arpaio does either.

September 2, 2004
revised October 16, 2004
and November 9, 2004

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