I've always hated Arpaio (you know, the world's toughest Sheriff).  It's been known for a long time that he has a dedicated squad within his department that acts like his own secret police.  They have been exposed for conducting illegal wiretaps and surveilance on his political and legal enemies.  The guy has serious power abuse issues.

Anhow, for those of you that live outside AZ, we have two (actually 3, but the third is irrelivant) big Propositions regarding Indian gambling.  The first would allow gambling at racetracks, and the second would restrict gambling to Indian Reservations only.  Arpaio and our Sen. John McCain sold themselves to be the pitchman for the Indian's proposal.

We'll it comes out that yesterday, Arpaio's chief deputy had the spokesman for the competing proposition arrested.  Why?  Well, on Halloween, the guy wore a pair of Arpaio's famous pink boxers and a generic AZ D.P.S. officers shirt.  Arpaio had him arrested for impersonating an officer, while the guy was working a lunch counter at a popular Phoenix restaurant.  The below article mentions Hendershott as the officer in charge, but he doesn't do squat without Arpaio's direction.

You can bet that Maricopa county is going to be shelling out big bucks for this false arrest.  The officers who followed this order to arrest and cite in lieu of detention should have their certifications revoked.

Importantly, our DA Rick Romley will never prosecute.  Secondly, for an Impersonation charge to stick there must be someone who believes that the individual is acting under the color of law.  Just wearing a shirt doesn't cut it (especially on haloween).  Hell, Arpaio should have been arresting those kids who dressed up as cops as their uniforms were much more realistic.

[url]http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1031JoeArizonaBusted-ON.html[/url]

Mary Jo Pitzl
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 31, 2002 05:55 PM

The actor who portrays "Joe Arizona" for the racetracks' political campaign was detained for an hour and then cited for impersonating a highway-patrol officer on Halloween.


The move is "political retribution" from the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, said Nick Tarr, aka Joe Arizona.

The two Joes represent opposing sides in the heated casino-gambling campaigns. Tarr is the pitchman for the racetracks' Proposition 201, which seeks voter OK for racetrack slot machines. Arpaio has promoted the tribes' Proposition 202, which sees the racetrack initiative as a threat to continued tribal gaming.

Racetrack backers said Thursday that they will sue Maricopa County for violating the campaign's right to political speech as well as for violating Tarr's civil rights.

The citation happened as Joe Arizona, dressed in pink boxer shorts, a brown highway-patrolman's shirt and a Smokey the Bear hat, was working the lunchtime crowd at Tom's Tavern, a downtown Phoenix restaurant.

"Clearly, I'm not trying to decieve anyone that I'm a law-enforcement officer," Tarr said at an afternoon news conference.

He called his attire his Halloween costume and an attempt to spoof the sheriff's reticence to debate him on the gambling measures.

Sgt. Bill Knight of the sheriff's office said the brown shirt was the reason for the citation, which charges Tarr with a Class 1 misdemeanor for impersonating a highway patrol officer. The shirt is a Class A button-down uniform shirt, complete with highway patrol patches on the shoulders.

Knight said Tarr was creating the impression that law enforcement supports the racetracks' Proposition 201, and that constitutes an intent to deceive.

He added that Arpaio was apprised of the citation, but has kept hands off the matter because of the "political sensitivity."

Tarr said he bought the shirt years ago at a used-uniform shop, and that the shirt was confiscated at the restaurant.

But racetrack backers said they smelled a political skunk, noting that Arpaio's chief deputy, Dave Hendershott, appeared to be directing the detention.

Attorney Richard Gierloff witnessed Tarr's detention and was moved to offer to represent him at no cost after watching what he called heavy-handed tactics.

"I thought it was just common thuggery (by sheriff's deputies) at first, but it later appeared to be political retaliation," Gierloff said.

Tarr is scheduled for a Dec. 6 initial appearance in the central Phoenix Justice Court. Class 1 misdemeanors can carry up to a year in jail. A jail that is run by Arpaio's department.

Here is the statute they charged him with:

41-1754 Impersonation of highway patrol officer; classification

A person is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor who either:

1. Without authority, wears the badge of a member of the highway patrol or a badge of similar design that would tend to deceive.

2. Impersonates a member of the highway patrol with the intent to deceive.


I voted down 201, and yes on 202.

That said, dressed in a DPS shirt with patches is not the same as a badge. The statute says badge.

Dressed in pink shorts, there is no way he could decieve any correct thinking human on this planet into believing they were dealing with a cop, let alone a DPS trooper: ergo, no deception.

The Joe Arizona Prop 201 thing is full of deception, but there was no deception about this guy being or not being a DPS trooper: ergo, no case.

Jay
[img]http://members.cox.net/azcop/images/iroc-cop.gif[/img]

Sounds like Arpaio is headed for a meltdown.

I haven't decided whether I'm going to vote for 200 or 202, but 201 is definitely out.

yea but he probaly spun his tires leaving the carwash so he got what was coming to him[;D]

former pulaski county sherriff (little rock and north little rock arkansas) tommy robinson gets my vote for tough sherriff, maybe not the toughest but bad ass at least

I'm voting NO on all of them. Why are white folks bickering over Indian gaming anyway?
AB

... Joe Arpaio has way outgrown his authority here. His antics used to be amusing but the good people of Arizona are getting fed up with his rogue cowboy attitude as of late.

... and yeah [b]Joe_Blacke[/b], if you don't want a visit by a group of his illiterate, single eyebrow, pompous sheriff deputies you'd best keep your unflattering observations of him to yourself. [;D]

...I have nothing wrong with a firm hand when dealing with lawbreakers but ole' Joe has outgrown his britches.

... Speaking of huge britches, his Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott had to have an office chair custom built to the tune of a couple thousand taxpayers dollars to fit his fat ass in.

the same things have been said about Hoover....

More than a few years ago I called him on an AM talk radio program and asked him why he allows his deputies to assist clearly unconstitutional agencies with dubious authority in what is "his" county.

He responded with some mealy-mouthed canned reply about co-operationg with all Law Enforcement Agencies.

I had to remind him that no AZ LEO is duty bound, or legally bound to enforce Federal Law.

He just repeated himself.

I reminded him that ATF isn't a Law Enforcement Agency, but a Tax Enforcement Agency run amok.

End of call. I got dumped. LOL.

D.

What was the Sheriff's Office doing in downtown Phoenix?  Isn't that out of their jurisdiction?

Thanks for the advice, but I'm pretty much on a first name basis with most of the MCSO deputies, or at least the ones in the East Valley.

I've also had the unfortuante displeasure of being face to face with Sheriff Joe on more than one occassion.  I have no doubt that he wouldn't hold back on trying to get me charged with something, even if the charge was made up.  However, even he wouldn't be able to withstand the fallout from something so stupid.

The only people that keep getting him re-elected are the damn retirees.  He's got them convinced that all those "youngins" would eat them alive if he wasn't there to protect them.  Plus his little "posse" lets all those old wannabe's feel like there kickin ass.  I can't count how many times I've been "badged" by one of these self-deluded morons.

Technically, the Sheriff's office has jurisdiction anywhere within the county.  The Sheriff is considered the supreme law enforcement officer within the county, according to State Law.

However, it has been pretty much a standard practice that the SO doesn't get involved withing incorporated areas that have their own departments, such as the City of Phoenix.  It was definately NOT standard practice for the SO to be handling a misdemeanor case withing Phoenix city limits, especially considering the fact that the "suspect" was a political thorn for their boss.

What about Sheriff Hegge (Hegey?), the guy who's always on Court TV, Who's narcotics unitt got busted by the FBI?