Phoenix Mayor Wants Feds to Investigate Sheriff's Racial Profiling
by Blue Intrigue
Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 03:15:37 PM PDT
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has had enough of Sheriff Joe:
In the wake of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office crackdowns on illegal immigrants throughout the Valley, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon is calling on the FBI to investigate whether Sheriff Joe Arpaio has violated any civil-rights laws.
- Blue Intrigue's diary :: ::
In an April 4 letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Gordon asked the Justice Department's civil-rights division and the FBI to probe what Gordon calls a "pattern and practice of conduct that includes discriminatory harassment, improper stops, searches and arrests."
Justice Department officials promised to review Gordon's letter but declined further comment.
Hopefully, the feds will take Gordon's request seriously, coming as it does from the mayor of a large Southwestern city. Naturally, Arpaio is condescending and dismissive in his response:
"I think the mayor is disconnected from the people he represents and he doesn't get the point. Now he's going to Washington to confuse the issue and try to get the public against me," Arpaio said Saturday. "It's not going to work. I've done nothing wrong." ... Arpaio insists Gordon is taking the opportunity to play political games and said the series of letters, whether they come from ministers or politicians, don't bother him.
"I don't think any of them carry any weight cause I have nothing to hide," he said. "(Gordon) did this on his own because he's taking the heat. Now he's degrading my office and my deputies by insinuating that they're violating all these civil laws. We don't profile."
Phil Gordon, a lawyer, is not likely to waste the FBI's time on false claims.
Gordon's four-page letter details Arpaio's recent sweeps through predominantly Latino neighborhoods in Phoenix and Guadalupe.
"Over the past few weeks, Sheriff Arpaio's actions have infringed on the civil rights of our residents," Gordon wrote. "They have put our residents' well-being, and the well-being of law enforcement officers, at risk."
In his letter, Gordon says he was moved to write after Arpaio pledged to bring his sweeps to other Valley cities on an ongoing basis. Gordon, who is an attorney, asks that Arpaio be investigated for possible violations of four laws, including the Civil Rights Act and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act.
Additionally, Gordon has the backing of the ACLU, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League.
The sweeps, which Gordon has called "made-for-TV stunts", heve brought out the worst elements of society:
In his office, Gordon has a pair of posters held by protesters at the recent sweep that took place near Cave Creek and Bell roads. Given to him by a Phoenix police officer who was on the scene, one refers to Latinos with an expletive and a slur. Another says "Hooray for the slaughtering of the illegals!" and is adorned with a swastika.
The bottom line in this is that Sheriff Joe has poured resources into catching a few illegals (always in front of cameras) while violent crimes go uninvestigated and unsolved. And he has violated the rights of many citizens in the process. One of the more common citations issued during the sweeps has been for honking the car horn in support of the protestors who greet Arpaio wherever he sets up shop with his two hundred deputies. What kind of law enforcement is this? Oh, and how many non-Latinos have been stopped for this?
It's time to stop this thug.
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