Sheriff has his own air force by dreamtrove

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Sheriff has his own air force

POSTED BY: DREAMTROVE
UPDATED: Saturday, April 16, 2011 12:21
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Friday, April 15, 2011 3:37 AM

Despite Setbacks, Arizona Sheriff Won’t Yield the Spotlight
By MARC LACEY
Published: April 14, 2011

MESA, Ariz. — It is not uncommon for law enforcement agencies to have helicopters and planes to patrol from above, but Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, has created what he calls his own air force: a collection of 30 private planes that his “air posse” uses to track illegal immigrants and drug smugglers

In what Mr. Arpaio is calling Operation Desert Sky, private pilots have begun flying over central Arizona to act as spotters for Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department deputies. The overhead surveillance has not yet led to any arrests, two weeks after it began, but Mr. Arpaio said it would have a deterrent effect.

In short, Sheriff Joe — as he is widely known — is still at it.

Despite court setbacks to Arizona’s aggressive illegal immigration law, two continuing federal investigations into his law enforcement practices and an audit of his budget released this week that found that millions of dollars had been misspent, the sheriff — as vividly highlighted by the creation of the Arpaio air force — is not backing down in his pursuit of illegal immigrants, or the limelight.

“This is just another controversial program that I don’t think is controversial,” Mr. Arpaio said in his characteristic gruff way.

On Wednesday, budget officials in Maricopa County — a sprawling place as large as some states that includes Phoenix, the country’s sixth-largest city — found that Mr. Arpaio’s department had used nearly $100 million in funds meant to run the jails for other activities, including paying the salaries of deputies assigned to his contentious efforts to uncover human smuggling and public corruption.

Mr. Arpaio, who blames accounting errors for the audit finding and accuses critics of trying to exploit it, skipped the budget hearing and instead showed up outside Monte Carlo Dry Cleaners here, where his deputies led away six women who were charged with using false identification to get jobs, a state crime.

As always, the news media were called to capture the tough-talking sheriff, who declared that this represented the 44th business he had raided in search of illegal immigrants in recent years. If he was feeling the heat from the growing criticism of his department, Mr. Arpaio, dressed in a uniform jacket with four gold stars on each shoulder, was not showing it.

Before the dry cleaners, Mr. Arpaio’s deputies had raided a string of Pei Wei Asian Diners, detaining scores of workers and prompting the chain to take out a full-page help-wanted ad to keep its kitchens going. Across the region are fast food shops, car washes, furniture stores and other establishments that have had sheriff’s deputies unexpectedly rush in demanding papers.

“We’re creating vacancies so these businesses can hire people legally,” Mr. Arpaio said. “I’ve just done something for the economy. I don’t get enough credit for that, from the Justice Department and the rest of the critics. They just think it’s the bad sheriff going in and grabbing dishwashers.”

Maricopa has a love-hate relationship with Mr. Arpaio, 78, an 18-year veteran who has regular protesters outside his downtown offices but still receives kudos from fans on the street and invitations from politicians eager for his endorsement.

Outside the dry cleaners, a man who was not able to drop off some shirts on Wednesday morning, because the store was not accepting new laundry, lauded Mr. Arpaio’s raids and declared of the detained workers: “If they were in the country illegally, they need to get out of here.”

But a woman who was picking up her cleaning was fuming as she waited for the commotion to end. “We’re tired of Sheriff Joe,” said the woman, who like several others at the scene declined to identify themselves. “These workers were supporting their families. They weren’t violent. This is ridiculous.”

The criticism was just as fierce last month when Mr. Arpaio allowed the actor Steven Seagal to ride in an armored vehicle to execute a search warrant in a major raid on a suspected cockfighting operation.

“I’ve never seen a bigger spectacle,” said Robert J. Campos, the lawyer for the accused man, Jesus Llovera. “You had Steven Seagal on a tank and a SWAT team swarming a home, but the reality is they arrested an unarmed man.”

Mr. Arpaio said Mr. Seagal was one of his many volunteer posse members who help out deputies. But Mr. Campos said the raid was filmed as part of Mr. Seagal’s reality television show, “Lawman,” on the A&E Network.

Someone sent me this, but when I went looking all I found were stories about him making his men wear pink underwear.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Friday, April 15, 2011 9:22 AM

FREMDFIRMA

You don't know the half of it, that man is crazier than a bag of rabid rats - he reminds me of the very worst of the tinpot dictator generals from south america back in the bad old days, but then that's no surprise given who was propping them up.

I consider Maricopa County to be a third world county run by a lunatic, and am certainly not alone in that - the problem is that you get the feudalist jackboot lickers and jackals who support this cause it gives them power, strokes their egos and makes them money.

Quote:
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them."
- George Orwell

Joe Arpaio, Grade School Bully, writ large and given a cover of perceived legitimacy.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Saturday, April 16, 2011 12:21 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Quote:
Mr. Arpaio’s department had used nearly $100 million in funds meant to run the jails for other activities, including paying the salaries of deputies assigned to his contentious efforts to uncover human smuggling and public corruption.

Excellent idea. Let all the illegal aliens and politicians rot at 140 degrees in Arpo's tent city.

Here our sheriffs all have Air Farces, hovering above campgrounds playing the theme from COPS, before they get arrested for rape and dope dealin then blow their own heads off (or get a little help from their friends).

Instead of arresting illegal aliens, TN cops sold fake I.D. "Driver Certificates" to 400,000 illegal aliens, marked "NOT VALID FOR IDENTIFICATION". No I.D. required to vote...

Restaurant, hotel and factory pay has been slashed 60% as a result.

Mission Accompliced!

Hutch's latest crime: $17-million bank robbery from his bankrupt car dealership

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