Complainer Arpaio may have a point
It's no surprise Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is looking for special treatment. That's his style, after all. But, when it comes to budget cuts, he may have a point. Arpaio is balking at a county requirement that department heads identify "20 percent of their budgets that could be cut," according to The Arizona Republic. Reports are due Dec. 8.

Across-the-board budget cuts are inappropriate for public safety agencies. That's not to say they should have a free hand, but they fall into a category which requires protection from meat-cleaver type budget adjustments.

That said, Arpaio needs to get on board with the need for additional reductions. For the past two years, he's had deputies running around interfering with other jurisdictions. It has been an expensive, publicity-building effort to support his re-election. Now the election's over, but the budget crisis is much with us and will grow worse before it gets better.

Perhaps it's time to consider scaling back the Sheriff's Department so that it runs the jails and provides coverage only to areas not otherwise served by a police department. This is not an era where fiscal and jurisdictional overlap should go unchallenged as the county looks for ways to save money with the least impact on services.