The nation's self-professed toughest sheriff says Nevada voters should fire Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he supports Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle because Washington needs new leadership.
Arpaio is known for his efforts against illegal immigration and Angle is among his many supporters. She has said every state needs a sheriff like Arpaio.
The sheriff says he doesn't know much about Angle, but he hopes her victory will increase Republicans' clout in Congress. He and Angle are scheduled to speak at the National Tea Party Convention in Las Vegas in October.
Ah, so Joe Arpaio is giving his blessing to Sharron Angle? But wait, he's in Arizona, NOT Nevada. And "the nation's toughest sheriff" has plenty of secrets he doesn't want us to know about...
And Sharron Angle thinks "every state needs a sheriff like Arpaio"?
Oh, really? Tell that to people in Arizona who don't like his grandstanding on immigration, his flagrant corruption, and his blatant misuse of power to intimidate political opponents. And even worse, he hasn't really been doing his job, which is supposed to be reducing crime!
Violent crime is down across the state of Arizona, but not in Maricopa County. The Arpaio approach is a proven failure at reducing crime. From 2002 to 2009, while the violent crime rate across the state as a whole decreased by 12 percent, the area policed by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office suffered a 58 percent increase in violent crime. Compare that 58 percent crime increase to other law enforcement agencies in Maricopa County who engaged in community policing, not targeting immigrants. In that same time period, Phoenix enjoyed a 14 percent decrease; Tempe, a 26 percent decrease; and Mesa, a 31 percent decrease.
Under Arpaio, 911 Response Time Increased, Arrest Rates Decreased[ii]
A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by the East Valley Tribune unearthed some disturbing news for residents of Maricopa County: “Response times, arrest rates, investigations and other routine police work throughout Maricopa County have suffered over the past two years as Sheriff Joe Arpaio turned his already short-handed and cash-strapped department into an immigration enforcement agency.” Unfinished investigations include particularly heinous crimes such as rape and other violent assaults. [...]
Conservative Think Tank Report: Arpaio’s Policies Are Ineffective, Harmful, and a Waste of Millions of Taxpayer Dollars[v]
In 2008, the Goldwater Institute, an independent, non-partisan public policy research organization with generally conservative views, issued a report cataloging the many failures of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. The report’s overview explains, “Although MCSO is adept at self-promotion and is an unquestionably ’tough‘ law-enforcement agency, under its watch violent crime rates recently have soared, both in absolute terms and relative to other jurisdictions. It has diverted resources away from basic law-enforcement functions to highly publicized immigration sweeps, which are ineffective in policing illegal immigration and in reducing crime generally, and to extensive trips by MCSO officials to Honduras for purposes that are nebulous at best. Profligate spending on those diversions helped produce a financial crisis in late 2007 that forced MCSO to curtail or reduce important law-enforcement functions.”
Mesa Police Chief: Arpaio’s Approach Hurts Community Safety[vi]
Mesa Chief George Gascón thinks “a wedge is being driven between the local police and some immigrant groups. Some law enforcement agencies are wasting limited resources in operations to appease the public‟s thirst for action against illegal immigration regardless of the legal or social consequences… If we become a nation in which the local police are the default enforcers of a failing federal immigration policy, the years of trust that police departments have built up in immigrant communities will vanish.”
Whoops. So I guess Joe Arpaio isn't really doing a good job in Maricopa County. In fact, it seems like he's just abusing his power.
And Sharrontology Obtuse Angle still thinks "every state needs a sheriff like Arpaio"?
Go tell Phoenix that... Hell, tell that to the entire state of Arizona. They now know better. Too bad Sharrontology doesn't. And hey, isn't this Nevada? Why do we need some trouble making Arizona sheriff butting into our state and our election?
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