AZ Taxpayers Footing a Heavy Bill for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Federal Racial Profiling Case

I t's been nearly three years since a federal judge ordered changes inside the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in a ruling on a case brought against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his officers for the racial profiling of Latinos and Hispanic Americans. The changes, in part, called for training on making constitutional traffic stops and requiring sheriff's officers to wear body cameras. And taxpayers in metro Phoenix area recently learned that they will have to pick up an additional $13 million tab over the next year to cover the costs Sheriff Joe's racial profiling case. A case that has proven to be the most costly legal entanglement faced by the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office since Joe Arpaio was first elected to the office.

Arizona tax-payers have already shelled out $41 million during the past eight years in the federal case and must continue to cover those legal costs until Arpaio’s office is released from the supervision of the federal court judge. A resolution that many Maricopa County residents acknowledge is years away.

A federal court official monitoring the the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office on behalf of the judge said in a recent report that Sheriff Arpaio’s office " has been unacceptably slow in enacting changes to ensure officers aren’t making any more of the unconstitutional traffic stops cited in the profiling case." In the federal court monitor's latest report, the sheriff's office was found to be 61 percent in compliance in creating new policies and just 38 percent in compliance in carrying out operational changes. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office will remain on the hook with the court, and the taxpayer costs are expected to continue to rise, until it has been found to be in full compliance for three years.

“To spend this much money and find out we are nowhere close to being compliant is disturbing,” said Supervisor Steve Gallardo, a longtime critic of Sheriff Joe, " The money could have been used to pay for flood-control improvements, increases for county employees who have gone four years without raises, and other unfunded projects.", Supervisor Gallardo elaborated.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has gained national infamy for his racial profiling and sadistic treatment of inmates in Maricopa County, Arizona. In May of 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a formal legal complaint against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) alleging widespread constitutional violations and lawless mistreatment of Latinos. According to the complaint, Arpaio and his staff engaged in widespread, violent and demeaning mistreatment of Latino residents of Maricopa County, often targeting individuals based solely on their race.

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Update - AP / PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has found the longtime sheriff of metro Phoenix in contempt of court Friday for disobeying his orders in a racial profiling case, bringing the lawman who calls himself "America's Toughest Sheriff" a step closer to a possible criminal contempt case that could expose him to fines and even jail time. - Arpaio and three of his deputies "have demonstrated a persistent disregard for the orders of this court, as well as an intention to violate and manipulate the laws and policies regulating their conduct," U.S. District Judge Murray Snow wrote in a 162-page ruling