Goldwater Institute criticizes Arpaio

First, it was the excellent, five-part East Valley Tribune series detailing serious flaws in the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department operation earlier this year. Many Arpaio apologists dismissed the series as politically-motivated.

Now, a month after Sheriff Joe Arpaio was reelected by a comfortable margin, the Goldwater Institute chimes in with a 22-page Policy Report with the devastating title: "Mission Unaccomplished: The Misplaced Priorities of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office."

From the report's Introduction:

There is no question that Sheriff Arpaio and MCSO are “tough” on people arrested for or convicted of crimes—and that a large majority of Maricopa County voters applaud that toughness as evidenced by polls and past elections. But toughness is only one ingredient for a successful sheriff ’s department, and by itself is far from sufficient. In this report, we examine MCSO’s record in light of its vision as the office itself defines it:

The Maricopa County Sheriff ’s Office is a fully integrated law enforcement agency committed to being the leader in establishing the standards for providing professional quality law enforcement, detention, and support services to the citizens of Maricopa County and to other criminal justice agencies.

We find that too often, in a variety of ways, MCSO falls short of accomplishing this vitally important mission.

As Maricopa County confronts its intense fiscal woes, it's important that Supervisors read and heed this report, as well as the East Valley Tribune's earlier findings. But since they've shown no interest in exercising their oversight responsibilities in the past, that's probably just wishful thinking.