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.
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.
