Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has engaged in unconstitutional civil rights violations, racial profiling, bias, and other offenses, according to a three-year study just released by the federal Department of Justice. Arpaio is know for imprisoning unconvicted arrestees in a desert “tent city” where temperatures can reach 120 degrees, and for requiring inmates to wear pink underwear and register for the selective service. The report also noted Arpaio’s officers often called Latinos “wetbacks,†“Mexican bitches,†“fucking Mexicans†and “stupid Mexicans.â€
“Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has ‘promoted a culture of bias’ against Latinos in his Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and communicated to officers that ‘biased policing would not only be tolerated, but encouraged,’ according to a just-released report by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division,” reports Talking Points Memo:
DOJ investigators found during a three year probe reasonable cause to believe that Arpaio, who fancies himself America’s Toughest Sheriff, and the Maricopa County’s Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) have engaged “in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing†and “engages in racial profiling of Latinos; unlawfully stops, detains, and arrests Latinos; and unlawfully retaliates against individuals who complain about or criticize MCSO’s policies or practices.â€
Arpaio, who endorsed Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry late last month, was found to have helped create a “wall of distrust†between MCSO deputies and Maricopa County’s Latino residents.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, who heads DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, told reporters in a conference call on Thursday morning that the department’s “exhaustive†investigation took “longer than it should have†because of a lack of cooperation from MCSO. He said they didn’t go into the probe with any “pre-conceived notions†but followed the investigation where it led.
“What is unique about the findings here is what appears to be at the highest levels of the organization, and that’s an issue — when we were peeling the onion — that began to jump out at us more and more and more,†Perez told reporters.
“I think that we can turn the culture around, but it will take persistence on our part,†Perez said.
DOJ’s 22-page report — based on interviews with over 400 individuals including Arpaio, reviews of tens of thousands of pages of evidence, tours of MCSO’s jails and the aid of four leading police practice experts — gives a few examples of Arpaio nurturing what Perez called MCSO’s “deeply routed culture. They say Arpaio frequently received “racially charged†constituent letters that he circulated to others in his staff after he marked them up with notes that “appear to endorse the content of the letter.â€
The AP adds:
“Arpaio’s own actions have helped nurture MCSO’s culture of bias,” wrote Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department’s civil rights division, adding that the sheriff frequently gave such racially charged letters to some of his top aides and saved them in his own files.
“MCSO is broken in a number of critical respects. The problems are deeply rooted in MCSO’s culture,” he said Thursday.
If the sheriff’s office doesn’t turn around its policies and practices, the federal government could pull millions of dollars of federal funding.
Arpaio’s office did not immediately respond to AP requests for comment.
The report will require Arpaio to set up effective policies against discrimination, improve training and make other changes that would be monitored for compliance by a judge. Arpaio faces a Jan. 4 deadline for saying whether he wants to work out an agreement. If not, the federal government will sue him and let a judge decide the complaint.
Michele Bachmann unsuccessfully courted Arapio for his endorsement several months ago.
Arpaio last week became the subject of calls for resignation after a report found his office had botched hundreds of sex-crime investigations, many involving children. Even Arizona’s two U.S. Senators expressed concern.
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