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| Joe Arpaio |
"I mean the people of Arizona that is a sad day when the federal government acts against our department," said Arpaio. "We are proud of the work we have done in the fight against illegal immigration," he said.
Hours earlier, the Office of Civil Rights Federal Justice Department had accused the Department of the Maricopa County Sheriff (MCSO), Arizona, to carry out one of the worst patterns of discrimination and racial action against the Latino community ever recorded in the United States, among other allegations. Undersecretary for Civil Rights, Tom Perez, said the research over three years found a "pattern or practice of unconstitutional police action" from MCSO.
Following the announcement of the DOJ, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano immediately announced it was canceling the contract with MCSO's called the 287 g, and that access the department led by the Safe Communities program Arpaio was "restricted."
"Discrimination undermines law enforcement and erodes public confidence. We are not participants in such practices," Napolitano said in a statement.
Perez, meanwhile said that one of the nation's leading experts in "racial profiling" analyzed patterns MCSO arrest and found "the most serious case he has observed in his work or even revised history documentation country ".
In the afternoon, hours after the DOJ report was made public, Arpaio invited the media and was accompanied by advisers and lawyers, but both the former and used the appearance to argue that it was a "witch hunt" and an investigation "to find what I wanted to find."
Arpaio attacked President Barack Obama saying the investigation "was released 100 days after he took office," and criticized its "review 300,000 cases and give them amnesty."
In principle, the Justice Department is giving to MCSO a period of 60 days to initiate a plan of "voluntary compliance" of the law, and no answer file a civil lawsuit against the department for a court urged reforms.
This is a civil case, Perez said there was a criminal investigation, but that it continues, and refused to give details.
According to the report, Latino drivers in Maricopa County were arrested in ratio of 4 to 9 times more than other drivers in similar situations, the study found.
Federal investigators are accusing MCSO also a pattern of retaliation against citizens who complained about the tactics of the officers of the department, including the "arrest and detention of people without reason."
The investigation further revealed that MCSO operates its prisons open discrimination against detainees or Spanish-speaking limited English, and they are often punished for not only understand the orders given in English, apart from being denied essential services provided to other detainees.
"We are talking about real cases involving real people," Perez said. "These are not isolated cases, discriminatory practices are deeply rooted in the culture of the department, where there is a systemic disregard for the constitution and its protections."
The problem is, in part, the department does not apply "uniform regulations, training, supervision or an appropriate disciplinary system."
Federal agents also found other "areas of great concern," but whose research is not complete and will continue: the use of excessive force, practices that limit the effectiveness of the police service to the Latino and non-sexual assault investigation.
"This department is broken in many crucial respects," said Perez.
The secretary refused to answer directly whether he thought that Joe Arpaio, who is an elected official should resign, or whether it would be possible to reform the department while he was in the address.
"My preference is to work in collaboration not only with MCSO, but with the community to establish a plan of reforms," said Perez, who cited the case of amendments to the Police Department of Los Angeles in the 90's as an example.
Even before the announcement and after the recent revelations that his office did not investigate hundreds of cases of sexual abuse against minors, at least two congressmen from Arizona and several local officials and immigrant advocacy groups, civil rights, and even a group of Republicans (Republicans Café con Leche), had begun to demand the resignation of Sheriff of Maricopa County.
In Los Angeles, the President of the Mexico American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Tom Saenz, said to be more challenging Arpaio, "will be very difficult, almost impossible, to avoid a consent decree applied by courts to order the necessary reforms if they do not access them voluntarily. "
As for the parallels cited by Perez about the LAPD, Saenz said that "the reason why the reforms worked in Los Angeles is that there was a commitment in leading the department to cooperate with the federal government."
"No matter how strong the consent decree, if there is no cooperation at high levels, it is very difficult to change the culture of an agency to reform policial.Creo that MCSO will require a serious change in the attitude of the Sheriff , or a change of Sheriff, "Saenz said.
He added that this also illustrates the "wrong" side of Arizona law SB 1070 and other laws like this in other states, "which were modeled on the activities of the individual"
"I mean the people of Arizona that is a sad day when the federal government acts against our department. We are proud of the work we have done in the fight against illegal immigration '
Joe Arpaio
Condadode Sheriff Maricopa, Arizona
