Arpaio arms deputies with AR-15 style rifles - | KSWT 13 On Your Side News, Yuma, El Centro, Weather

"PHOENIX (AP) - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is providing each of his patrol deputies with a semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle, and has ordered them to carry a weapon at all times, even when they're off duty."

Good for Sheriff Joe!

Congratulation to S&W for landing such a great contract. I wonder which model they bought. My guess is S&W M&P-15 Magpul Edition in Flat Dark Earth (FDE). Will S&W now market a "Sheriff Joe Model"? I know I would buy one.

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Dave

A story about this was on as I walked in the door and turned the tv on. First thing I heard was the good Sheriff saying "AR15 assault rifles..."
Go away, Joe.
Just.
Go.
Away.

Too bad he gets such a bad rap from the establishment media and fools like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Sheriff Joe is a good, decent man. We loved this guy when we lived in AZ.

He's honest and doesn't beat around the bush. Liars and liberals hate that about people.

Go Sheriff Joe!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

He's D+ 30 years behind the times.
But good for him and his Deputy's.

Emory

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Hard To Kill

Good for Joe. He has his head on straight. Facing Arizona's problems with illegals the deputies will need all the fire power they can get.

If we could get the rest of the countries sheriffs to take his example to heart, we would have a much stronger republic. I am an honest man, I fear no laws, nor the men who enforce them.

Nice looking rifles. Are those a certain factory flashlight I'm seeing?

I am glad for the deputies. I hope they all stay safe.

Could you guys please explain further your apparent dis-satisfaction with Joe? Everything I've seen of him,I like. Just curious if there is something about him that I am unaware of.
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

I don't live in Phoenix or for that matter in Arizona either but I haven't seen anything that Sheriff Joe has done in the past years that would lead me to believe that he is not a good Sheriff. I think he has the peoples best interest at heart and has strong beliefs about what is right and what is wrong and I like him. I think we need more like him.

The Sheriff's Deputies will be a lot better protected with that firepower and the people too. Good for him.

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James
On the Llano Estacado

My own dis-organized two pennies worth. While I am a resident of Arizona and also work in law enforcement, I do not live anywhere near his jurisdiction and have no personal knowledge of him.

I approve of the work he does. Jail should not be plush, and illegals are illegals no matter where they are or who rounds them up.

I do not care for his grandstanding attention seeking antics. He is constantly making a big deal over...doing his job.

Anytime I see a LEO on television even say "assault rifles," which these probably are not (select fire), it irritates me.

In June, I was told by a Phoenix area NFA dealer that Maricopa County is currently taking 120 days to process a CLEO signoff for NFA items. As Sheriff, I think he could do better than that, unless he is just trying to stall citizens from exercising their rights.

And lastly, he's over 80 years old. I think old people are great, and hope to reach eighty someday. But I barely trust elected officials, and I really don't trust people who seek power and go through the scrutiny of campaigns when they could be sitting back in retirement. At that point, I think they have passed the public service phase and are more in the hold on to power mode.

Just my thoughts. I never claimed they made much sense.

Couldn't have made a better choice,only sooner.its pathetic that all officers aren't equipped with a rifle by now.

I live here in the GREAT Old West of Arizona...

It astounds me that so many people condemn what Sheriff Joe Does....
we have Border Guards and Innocent people getting KILLED By Illegals... a huge influx of Drugs from the Border... Miles and Miles of open Desert to Hide and Make Tunnels under the Boarder... and the list goes on and on

Like bishopm14 said... Yer in Jail... it should NOT be nice and cozzy..


I support Sheriff Joe 100% and arming his Men and Women is Fantastic...

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--Stav--

Old Sheriff Joe is a merry old soul who loves to stand out front

He looks good on stage and loves to make a rage

And his supporters all line up

He don't back down and if he makes a frown

Words of strife will follow

Whatever your opinion it really don't matter

The thugs and hooligans all know it ain't clatter

They hi-tail it fast and dodge that badge

They really don't like his slammer

Puttin' folks in their place and standin' firm

Is what's missin' and we all need to learn

LEO respect is fading fast but ole Joe is here to take it back

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Death? Smile back...

I think people only really have a problem with him calling an AR15 an assault rifle which it clearly is not. And if especially gun people repeat a lie enough people will begin to believe it. He could have just called them what they are: AR15 semi-automatic rifles.

Appear to be Inforce WML's to me.

Joe is a better man than any that would speak poorly of him. He is one of the last remaining "American LE Heroes"

What I can't stand is they get on him because he enforces the law! I will bet the crime rate is pretty low in his county. Good for you Sheriff Joe we need more like him.

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Jason Adams

The original post is dated August 8, the same day as the murder of Maricopa County Sheriff's Office detention officer Jorge Vargas who died after being shot in the driveway of his home while he prepared to head to work that morning. They should have any weapons needed to defend and protect themselves.

I like Joe and am certain he is trying to do the right thing but when the question came up about why he gets a bad rap the first thing I thought of was the millions of dollars in litigation costs from questionable activities by his office. By “questionable” I mean the courts ruled against him or he chose to reach a settlement in the suit. The Sheriff is an elected office and many of the complaints about Sheriff Arpaio are purely political but it is up to our courts to decide that.

According to Maricopa County Risk Management records in 2011, almost 6,300 claims and lawsuits had been filed against Sheriff Arpaio and his office since he began as sheriff in 1993 costing over $50 Million to defend. The 1,828 lawsuits against the sheriff's office is about 6 times the number listed for Harris County, Texas which includes Houston and is almost the same size in population.
A suit by the family of Charles Agster, a mentally handicapped man who died in jail after being restrained resulted in a $9 million jury verdict. The biggest settlement involved the death of Scott Nordberg. He was also restrained and died in custody. This case was settled by the county's insurance provider for more than $8 million.

Your tax dollars being spent to fight Sheriff Joe Arpaio?s lawsuits

Following an Arizona Public Records Law request Maricopa County Sheriff's Office refused to promptly turn over public records of an investigation of misconduct conducted by Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu detailing internal Maricopa County Sheriff's Office activities that eventually led to the firings of then-Maricopa County Sheriff's Chief Deputy David Hendershott, Deputy Chief Larry Black and Capt. Joel Fox. The Sheriff's Office began releasing pieces of the report, but refused to release it in its entirety until ordered to do so by a Superior Court judge. The Babeu Report revealed that Arpaio had been made aware of some instances of misconduct and mismanagement in his organization. Issues identified in the report ranged from financial problems and inappropriate campaign fundraising to abuse of employees and ignoring sex-crime investigations to focus on pet projects

Arizona Republic, 12 News settle lawsuit with MCSO over records

The Sheriff together with former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who was disbarred for his actions, launched unsubstantiated investigations against political opponents. Detectives spent 11 hours searching the offices of developer Conley Wolfswinkel with “reporters on the ground, helicopters overhead, and television cameras rolling,” but no charges were ever brought and a judge later ruled that the search warrant was invalid. His suit was settled for $1.4 million.
Over a hundred charges were filed against County Supervisor Don Stapley, but all eventually were dismissed. Stapley said, “This has been the most terrifying experience of my life.” Eight other related suits have settled leaving Stapley's lawsuit which seeks $15 million from the county.

Sheriff Joe Costs Maricopa County Another $1.4M in Lawsuits | Legal News | Lawyers.com

On balance I think Sheriff Arpaio is doing a good job but there is always room for improvement.

If only I could believe that some courts were not biased, that news reports were fair and that lawsuit abuse didn't happen...
I have seen courts find in violation of the constitution, news reports outright lie about proceedings, and county / state officials bow to political pressure and settle to "save money". Always seems that right and wrong take a back seat to the purse.
Plata o plomo in one country is political correctness in another.

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Halfway and one more step

We're getting pretty far adrift from anything to do with the MP15 or anything to do with guns for that matter.

If y'all want to continue the conversation there's a thread in the Lounge. Has Sheriff Joe Gone Over The Edge?