Sheriff Joe comes to tea

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, October 7, 2010 - 0 Comments

Arizona’s tough-talking cop is a Tea Party favourite, in spite of accusations of financial irregularities

ROY DABNER/EPA/KEYSTONE PRESS

Joe Arpaio’s reputation as a tough-on-immigration sheriff in Arizona is garnering him rock-star status among Tea Party members. And increasingly his influence is extending outside the borders of his home state. Last weekend he headlined a fundraiser for Colorado gubernatorial candidate and Tea Party fave Tom Tancredo.

Arpaio joined Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman in singing the praises of Tancredo, whose anti-immigration bona fides—he lambastes the “cult of multiculturalism”—are as impeccable as those of the sheriff of Maricopa County, which includes Arizona’s capital Phoenix. And early in September, Arpaio gave a strong thumbs-up for Sharron Angle, the Tea Party candidate trying to unseat Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid in next-door Nevada. Angle reciprocated by stating every state needed a police chief like Arpaio.
For the ﬁve-term elected lawman, going after illegals involves more than stopping them crossing the border.

“Let’s say lock them up in the interior,” he declared at a rally near the border with Mexico, organized in part by the Tea Party Caucus. He claims to have arrested, investigated and detained more than 40,000 migrants in the past three years, in part by having officers stop people in immigrant neighbourhoods for minor infractions, such as jaywalking, and then ask their immigration status. Critics call the technique racial proﬁling, a charge Arpaio denies.

Continue…

Khabi bull

By Colby Cosh - Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 12:37 PM - 0 Comments

Oiler goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin’s trial for the offence of “extreme” impaired driving was the talk of the town in Edmonton yesterday. Khabibulin, 37, may seem a little old to be horning in on the extreme sports craze, but that’s what Arizona charges you with when you’re caught going 70 in a 45 mph zone and you have a blood alcohol content of 0.16%. The Russian, pulled over in February, was found guilty late last week and was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in jail, the mandatory minimum. He had the bad luck to be busted in Maricopa County, home to the demented Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his “tent city” justice. Continue…
Origins of the Great Arizona Civil War

By Colby Cosh - Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 4:59 AM - 20 Comments

Patricia Treble’s short piece about Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the publicity-hogging Faulknerian nightmare who runs law enforcement in Maricopa County, Arizona, mentions in passing that

recently, a defence lawyer complained that, while her back was turned in court, two ofﬁcers riﬂed through her privileged legal documents and even managed to photocopy some pages. The sheriff’s ofﬁce insisted that the men, who were caught on video, were examining the papers for contraband.

Unfortunately, no text description is adequate to capture the surrealism of bailiffs stealing documents from a defence lawyer in open court. It’s really the kind of thing you have to see for yourself. And even then you might not believe your eyes.

Reason magazine justice crusader Radley Balko has context, along with an update, wherein the gonzo weirdness of Maricopa County gets weirder still.
Anger this man at your own risk

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 5:00 PM - 9 Comments

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is accused of punishing those who cross him

He enjoys his reputation as “America’s toughest sheriff,” but Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County is also one of the most investigated law enforcement ofﬁcials in the U.S. According to a local TV station in Phoenix, which is the county seat as well as Arizona’s capital, the FBI is probing allegations that Arpaio used his position to settle vendettas against anyone who challenged his authority.

One case involves County Supervisor Don Stapley, indicted on 118 charges of violating campaign ﬁnance laws last December. In September, three days after prosecutors requested the last of those charges be dropped, Arpaio had Stapley arrested again. The reason? According to defence lawyer Paul Charlton, Stapley “opposed the sheriff’s budget. When you cross this guy for legitimate reasons, you’re going to ﬁnd yourself under criminal investigation for completely illegitimate reasons.” Continue…