Arizona Sheriff Investigated by Feds

    

     An Arizona police officer followed a Latina woman home.  She pulled into her driveway and got out of her car.  The officer demanded she sit on the hood of her car.  She refused.  She had no idea what she did wrong.  The officer grabbed her arms, pulled them behind her back and slammed her stomach-first into the vehicle three times.  She was 5 months pregnant.  He ticketed her with failure to produce identification.  She is a US citizen.  She was stopped because she is a Latina in Maricopa County, Arizona.

     Maricopa County police officers entered a house where there were “coyotes” and undocumented immigrants.  They arrested them.  Then they noticed the house across from it was also occupied by Latinos.  They entered it, searched it, and tied the hands of a Latino man and his 12 year-old-son and made them sit on the sidewalk with the coyotes in front of all their neighbors.  The father and son were legal permanent US residents.  They had committed no crime and the police had no warrant to enter their house.

     These civil rights complaints and others came from the US Department of Justice which is investigating Arizona Sheriff Joseph Arpaio. Arpaio, who comes from Springfield Massachusetts, is an elected official supervising the Maricopa Police and prisons.  In the past, he was investigated for misspending $99.5 million of taxpayer money, election campaign violations, and using police investigations to intimidate his political adversaries.  This year, he started an unofficial “Cold Case Posse” that claims President Obama faked his birth certificate.  Arpaio is a supporter of SB 1070, which is an Arizona law that allows police officers more power to stop anyone who looks Latino.  The US Supreme Court is in the process of deciding if SB 1070 is constitutional.  President Obama is against SB 1070.   

    While the Maricopa police force under Arpaio has been arresting Latinos where they work, where they live, and where they drive, the violent crime rate in the county has increased.  The Department of Justice says they have not adequately responded to reports of sexual violence. Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice wrote this legal complaint:

    “The police are supposed to protect and serve our communities, not divide them. At its core, this is an abuse of power case involving a sheriff and sheriff's office that disregarded the Constitution, ignored sound police practices, comprised public safety, and did not hesitate to retaliate against perceived critics. Constitutional policing and effective policing go hand-in-hand. Our complaint alleges that the defendants' actions were neither constitutional nor effective.”