Joe Arpaio
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Joseph M. Arpaio (born June 14, 1932 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is a law enforcement officer who is notable as the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona. He has been called "America's toughest cop." He has a large number of vocal supporters for his toughness on crime and criminals, but also many civil libertarians denounce him as a bully and a tyrant for his policies.
Biography
Joe Arpaio was the child of immigrants from Naples, Italy. His mother died during childbirth; his father had little interest in raising young Joe, whose upbringing was left to whatever family members were willing to take him in. As a result of his father’s abandonment, Arpaio spent his childhood being shuffled back and forth between different families.Arpaio enlisted in the United States Army and served from 1950-1953. According to an April, 2001 article in Harper's magazine, Arpaio has stated that he is a veteran who served at the time of the Korean War.
Following his discharge, he moved to Washington, D.C. and then to Las Vegas, Nevada, serving on the police force of both cities. He married Ava Arpaio in 1956. Some time afterward, Arpaio obtained a job as a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, working there for more than two decades. During that time, he was stationed in both Turkey and Mexico and advanced to the position of head of the DEA's Arizona branch, where he served for four years before retiring.
\"America's Toughest Sheriff\"
Joe Arpaio has frequently been referred to as America's Toughest Sheriff.
Upon his initial election as sheriff of Maricopa County in 1992, Arpaio immediately began instituting changes at county jails. These new measures included serving less expensive meals to inmates and issuing inmates [pink underwear] as part of the jails' uniforms, and ordering the use of [pink handcuffs].
He has also set up the Tent City as a modification of the Maricopa County Jail. As it becomes crowded, more tents are set up.
Arpaio has instituted a program for inmates to study while in jail and to try to recover from drug abuse. This program is named Hard Knocks High, which is the only approved high school program in any American jail. Another jail program, called ALPHA, is aimed solely at getting inmates away from drug abuse. Community projects include bicycle registration, block watch, child identification and fingerprinting, Operation Identification for marking valuables, Operation Notification which identifies business owners during times of emergency, Project Lifeline which provides free cellular phones to domestic violence victims, S.T.A.R.S. (Sheriff’s Teaching Abuse Resistance to Students), and an annual summer camp for kids near Payson.
One of the most successful programs maintained by Sheriff Arpaio is the all-volunteer Posse program. The earliest organized Posse in Maricopa County was formed over 50 years ago. Arpaio expanded the program through heavy recruiting, and got the volunteers involved in many areas of the sheriff's office. Search and rescue, prisoner transport, traffic control, backup for sworn deputies, and office administrative duties are some areas in which the posse has provided free assistance. Holiday Mall Patrol deters crime during the holiday shopping season and provides motorist assistance and security for shoppers. Periodic deadbeat parent details target men and women with outstanding warrants for failure to pay child support. Arpaio has also included on the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office website an online "deck of cards" featuring pictures of deadbeat parents, amounts owed and last known whereabouts.
He attends some of the Phoenix police's community activities personally, going as far as making free autograph show appearances several times a year. In 2001, he oversaw security at the former Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) for the World Series that pitted the Arizona Diamondbacks (the eventual champions) against the New York Yankees.
Arpaio is currently serving his fourth term in office, having won reelection in 1996, 2000, and 2004.
Controversy and Criticism
Some feel that Sheriff Arpaio's actions are based less on a desire to serve the public and to lower crime, but on future political desires, notwithstanding the fact that he is currently 74 years old and has expressed no interest in political office outside of serving as Maricopa County Sheriff. Amnesty International, for example, issued a report critical of the treatment of inmates in Maricopa County facilities [link].One of his most criticized decisions was the construction of a tent city that houses both men and women. Some inmates in the facility claimed that they were mistreated. In an effort to institute equality between the men and women prison sentences, he created an all-female chain gang.
The Scott Norberg case
One major controversy includes the 1996 death of inmate Scott Norberg while he was in custody. Norberg was arrested for chasing two young girls in Mesa, Arizona. Reportedly high on methamphetamines, Norberg was accused of attacking the jail detention officers who were trying to restrain him. In the subsequent struggle and restraint, he died. According to an investigation by Amnesty International, Norberg was already handcuffed and face down when officers dragged him from his cell and placed him in a restraint chair with a towel covering his face. His death, according to the Maricopa County medical examiner, was due to "positional asphyxia". County detention officers were acquitted of wrongdoing.Norberg’s parents filed a lawsuit against Joe Arpaio and his office. The lawsuit was settled for $8.25 million (USD). Arpaio has consistently defended his officers' actions and the jail procedures and neither the Justice Department nor the FBI, which investigated the allegations, filed charges.
The Brian Crenshaw case
Brian Crenshaw was a blind inmate allegedly beaten to death by guards working under Arpaio. Crenshaw suffered injuries that included a perforated intestine and a broken neck. When asked about the incident, Arpaio insisted, "The man fell off a bunk." [link]The Fountain Hills prank calls case
During April, 2004, Arpaio became involved in more controversy when he accused the West Bridgewater, Massachusetts Police Department of being unprofessional over their handling of surveillance tapes from an AT&T store that showed a suspect making prank calls to several restaurants. The calls instructed restaurant managers to strip-search female customers — minors included. Several managers were arrested as a result. Arpaio believed that the suspect in the tapes from West Bridgewater might be connected to a similar case in Fountain Hills, Arizona. In response to Arpaio's comments, West Bridgewater Sheriff Raymund S. Rogers was quoted as saying "I think he's mad that our detectives just happen to be better than his detectives".The West Bridgewater Police Department has refused to share the tapes showing the suspect prank-caller with Arizona law enforcement for the Fountain Hills investigation.
James Saville
James Saville was arrested in 1999 for attempting to murder Joe Arpaio. A jury decided that officers from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department had entrapped Saville and found him not guilty [link].Torture
Arpaio has been accused of allowing the torture of inmates at his jails in a documentary from Channel 4 in Britain [Channel 4].Illegal Aliens
Recently, Joe Arpaio has stated on FOX News as well as radio stations that he is deporting illegal aliens back to Mexico if they have committed felonies. He has deported over one hundred to date, and has gained largely public support for doing so.
External links
- [Maricopa County Sheriff's Office]
- [Official Bio]
- [Anti-Arpaio Website]
- [Sheriff Joe Arpaio's high profile prompts death threats]
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