Is there a more useless—or corrupt—sheriff in the world than Joe Arpaio?
Maricopa County, AZ sheriff Joe Arpaio is a legend in his own mind, and notorious the world over. He also has an idiosyncratic view of what the priorities of a county sheriff should be.
Last year, he took time off from the day job to gift Sarah Palin (for those who’ve never heard of her, check out the tag below by that name for a detailed history) some pink underwear, resembling the items he forced prisoners in his charge to wear (though presumably a little less preworn than standard prison issue, but who knows?). Then, as we covered last November, a secret database was discovered and there was a big kerfuffle about an alleged $80 million misspend by his department.
As that all rattled on, with subpoenas and ongoing investigations and the like, ole Joe’s interest was piqued by birtherism. In October, he saw it as his public duty to investigate ways to bar President Obama from standing for reelection:
Now, America’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” has some fresh bullshit good news for the “birther” crowd: “there could be a shock” when the sheriff’s “birther” posse finishes its investigation into Obama.
“I can’t tell you everything, but there could be a shock there somewhere that my guys came up with. I can’t talk too much about it. It’s in the process,” Arpaio told members of the Arizona Tea Party Tuesday night.
Arpaio then referenced Obama’s Social Security number, noting that “there are a couple of things you and nobody else here knows anything about yet that could be a little bit exciting.”
The excitement continued in November:
“I want to see the Microfiche,” Sheriff Joe Arpaio told a packed East Orlando Tea Party audience last week. In explaining his Birther Posse activities, he said his group of 60 retired cops and attorneys should have a report for him as early as January or February because they are searching around the clock to find out where the President was born.
Delivering a keynote speech to his rapt listeners, Arpaio said the l961 microfiche holds the key to determining if Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii or Kenya. “Twins were born before Barack Obama, and now we have to see if he was born the next day.” But Sheriff Joe said he won’t be taking any bets on his posse getting the microfilm. He expressed consternation that the regular media are just not talking about the Obama birth issue which is on people’s minds all across the country.
Arpaio, who has fifty years of law enforcement experience, said proudly, “I serve the Public; the Public is my Boss.”
Well, his Boss isn’t too pleased with him at the moment, as TPM reports.
Critics of notorious Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio say he inadequately investigated over 400 sex-crime investigations, according to a report by the Associated Press.
AP sources, including current and former police officers, say that over three years, ending in 2007, sex-crime cases were not properly investigated, or not investigated at all. In the city of El Mirage, for example, there were 32 child molestations reported — 26 of which had suspects — that were not thoroughly investigated. One former El Mirage police officer told the AP that in many of the cases, the victims were children of illegal immigrants.
From the report:
El Mirage Detective Jerry Laird, who reviewed some the investigations, learned from a sheriff’s summary of 50 to 75 case files he picked up from Arpaio’s office that an overwhelming majority hadn’t been worked. That meant there were no follow-up reports, no collection of additional forensic evidence and zero effort after the initial report of the crime was taken.
“I think that at some point prior to the contract (for police services) running out, they put their feet on the desk, and that was that,” Laird said.
Joe Arpaio’s not in the first flush of youth. Maybe it’s about time he retired to sheltered accommodation with room service, where he can pursue some other more productive hobbies, like—oh, I don’t know—looking after caged birds. Or patching pink underwear. Or sewing mailbags.
Posted by YAFB on 12/06/11 at 02:37 PM • Permalink
Categories: Politics • Nutters • Sarah Palin • Teabaggery • Skull Hampers •
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