Time to go, Joe
“America’s Toughest Sheriff” may soon be getting a new title, “America’s Most Disgraced Sheriff.”
That’s a more fitting title for a man who allowed rapists and child molesters to roam free while hundreds of young girls and mothers lived in fear and shock after their reports of sexual assaults were dismissed by the Sheriff’s department (MCSO).
It was more than six months ago when we first learned of the 400 plus sex assault cases MCSO failed to properly investigate while charged with protecting the city of El Mirage. And now we learn that the majority of the babies, little girls and teenagers who were attacked also happened to have parents who are undocumented.
As a mother, I can only imagine the horror of finding out one of my children had been sexually assaulted. Even worse would be the knowledge that the perpetrator had gotten away with it and may be molesting other children.
But apparently mothers and daughters should take comfort in the so-called apology Sheriff Joe issued on Monday. The one that said, “If there were any victims, I apologize to those victims.”
IF there were any victims. Perhaps the toddlers, little girls, teenagers and young women who were assaulted should be introduced to Mr. Arpaio so he can see with his own eyes that there were indeed victims, and these victims deserve much more than an apology from an ill-informed sheriff.
Many of us were outraged when we first heard about what happened in El Mirage. But just as the Sheriff plead “no recollection” to the unethical and unlawful behavior his office took part in alongside former County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Joe plead “no responsibility” in the botched sex crimes investigations. Instead, at a recent press conference, he pins the blame on those he’s in charge of overseeing.
In other words, MCSO’s figurehead, the one we pay handsomely to look pretty at press conferences, does not believe “the buck stops here,” but rather that it stops somewhere just short of his desk.
Imagine for a moment, if this had happened in the neighborhood or city where you live. Would you be okay continuing on with a police chief whose department tossed aside more than 400 sex crimes cases if the chief blamed it all on detectives? Or would you be calling for his/her resignation, too?
What happened in El Mirage was a complete failure of the most basic functions of law enforcement. It is an embarrassment to the profession, and those in charge, from the Sheriff down, should be held accountable.
For far too long, voters have been hoodwinked into believing the propaganda set forth by Joe and his dominions. For far too long, the residents of Maricopa County have sat back and allowed Sheriff Joe to do whatever to whomever he pleased without repercussions. For far too long, voters have looked the other way, allowing him to bend the law and lose millions in lawsuits and misappropriated funds because of the false belief that he was tough on crime.
And the result of this false logic? Hundreds of young girls and women who were courageous enough to report the crimes committed against them will never know justice, and an untold number of crimes that could have been prevented were not.
It’s time for the curtain to close on Arpaio’s reign and for the lives of these young victims to take precedence over propaganda.
It’s time to go, Joe.