The Justice Dept. has filed suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They accuse him, Maricopa County and his office of failure to cooperate with the civil rights investigation of his office.
According with MSNBC News:
The Justice Department has been investigating allegations that the sheriff’s office has engaged in discrimination against Hispanics. As a recipient of federal funds, the sheriff’s office is required to cooperate with such investigations.
But today, the Justice Department said it’s been trying to get the sheriff’s cooperation for more than a year without success. That makes his department “an extreme outlier,” given that no other local law enforcement organization has refused to cooperate with a civil rights investigation in the last 30 years, the government says.
“The actions of the sheriff’s office are unprecedented. It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities,” says Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division
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Sheriff Joe is already a national folk hero to many people. If this keeps up he will be a national saint. It will be interesting to see who blinks first. I doubt if it will be Sheriff Joe. There has to be a better way than this. In Sheriff Joe’s case, it seems like he wins regardless of what he does.
