It’s hard for a lot of people in Maricopa County to understand why there’s so much national consternation about Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his tactics for arresting illegal immigrants. I suspect one reason behind the gap between local and national views is because we are simply so close to the issue. “Illegal immigration is a huge problem here. Sheriff Arpaio is trying to do something about it. What more do we need to know?”
Well, I came across a story over the weekend that provides an analogy for why it’s important to not simply take Arpaio at his word and to independently determine if the rights of American citizens and foreigners are being trampled under the guise of cracking down on illegal activity.
Tenaha is a tiny town of 1,046 on the Texas-Louisana border that appears to have an official policy of forcing black travelers to turn over their money and their vehicles to the police to avoid facing drug charges. The Chicago Tribune reported on a federal class-action lawsuit filed against the town. The leading lawyer says only about one in four cases did Tenaha actually charge someone with drug possession from 2006 to 2008. Nearly three-quarters of the time, the police seized anything they could put their hands on without finding any drugs, or at least without charging the “suspects” with a crime.
The police tactic described is particularly chilling. Imagine traveling by motor vehicle to a distant part of the country. You are carrying extra cash, maybe because you are going to gamble at a casino, or maybe you just don’t trust credit cards. You are pulled over in a small town by the local police and they come up with a reason to search your car. Then, you are shocked when told they found some drugs hidden under the seat or in the trunk. You are facing felony charges and potentially serious jail time.
The police say if you will “voluntarily” turn over your money and some other possessions, they will let you go and the justice system will look more favorably on you if this eventually goes to court.
You know the police are lying about finding any drugs. But if you say “no,” you have to come up with bail money and you will be fighting this dark cloud far from home for months. Say “yes” and you lose your belongings, but at least you can walk away.
Officials in Tenaha say they are using state drug forfeiture laws as a tool to challenge a large amount of drug trafficking that passes through their community.
“We try to enforce the law,” Mayor George Bowers told the Chicago Tribune. “We’re not doing this to raise money.”
So, do you buy the mayor’s explanation? I sure don’t.
Add in the fact that police have pre-printed forms because they handle this type of “transaction” so often, and the evidence that blacks seem to be targeted beyond all rational proportions, and it seems like something sinister is going on.
The Tenaha mayor’s explanation has some eerie similarities to what the sheriff’s office said when it tried to convince Tribune reporters last year that deputies weren’t violating anyone’s civil rights while making illegal immigration stops, despite what those reporters saw with their own eyes.
It’s good that the federal government is taking a close look at what Arpaio is doing. What kind of long-term success can we hope to achieve against the dangers of illegal immigration if we have to sacrifice liberty and freedom from police abuse in the process?
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Mr. Templar you are so right. Sheriff Arpaio’s actions need examined. It was his deputies that boasted to Tribune reporters about making up reasons for stopping cars based on skin color alone. How many people have died in Sheriff Arpaio’s custody and the only investigation into the death was conducted by Arpaio’s deputies who cleared the sheriff of wrongdoing. Yet when a civil court jury hears the evidence the sheriff and county taxpayers are ordered to pay out millions to the families of those who died. It’s time the truth be told.
The sad thing is that many in this county, and I’m sure Tenaha, feel it’s okay for others to sacrifice liberty and freedom as long as a few bad apples are weeded out. Not me.
This really is chilling, and there certainly is a parallel with the “reasoning,” posture and repeated denials of Sheriff Arpaio….always televised of course. Yes, the federal govt taking a close look at his methods is certainly warranted. Thanks for bringing these abominable actions in Tenaha, Texas to our attention.
There will never be enough of a balance between enforcing the law and the civil rights of the people. Either you are too hard on one side or too lenient. Yet, the illegal immigration issue is one where emotions run high on both sides. The Feds are not enforcing the law as they should and citizens are rightfully upset. The ‘open borders’ crowd seem to think that there should be no laws enforced at all. Either we are a nation of laws or we are not. As it appears, especially with recent comments from Speaker of the House Pelosi and Attorney General Holder, we seem to now want to selectively enforce laws. That attitude will bring this country to its knees.
Gee, I didn’t think that someone that works for a newspaper would actually try to get away with a “straw man” argument! The procedure that MCSO was trained to follow is: Observe a violation. Ask for required Id, information; if said person doesn’t have, then they can ask if the person is ILLEGAL. How you can compare that to placing drugs in their vehicle is beyond me! Let’s get to “brass tacks”. In Arizona, by the law of averages, what nationality would an ILLEGAL immigrant be? If the person was “white” or Asian, and they didn’t ask, then I’d agree. However, if the person is of the race MOST COMMONLY that of an ILLEGAL immigrant, than as long as they have ID, et al, there’ll be no problem. I don’t doubt MOST officers here in AZ wait for a violation of some kind to occur. I once was pulled over because the officer said I was acting suspicious. The officer stated that she noticed that I was looking around a lot when I came back to my car. (Driving down the road, I purposely committed an infraction, because she was following me, and I wanted it to stop). I advised her that everybody should be aware of their surroundings, that way you might be able to avoid getting robbed, or worse. She let me go with a “warning”, as I told her I purposely committed the infraction because she was followingly me. However, she was acting on her instinct. I don’t fault her for that.
Another time, I was driving down the freeway at night, and I noticed a car with high beams on closing at a very high rate of speed. As it got near me, the vehicle dropped it’s speed suddenly, then got in behind me, headlights still on high beams. Because my car (at that time) fuse was burnt out, I couldn’t signal a left hand turn. When a made a left hand turn at the greenlight without signaling is when I found out it was an officer behind me. He asked me where I had been and where I was going to. You are not required by law to answer. I had nothing to hide, so I told him. He said we looked nervous when he pulled I behind me. I told him since all I could see behind me was the high beams of some maniac that came up on me at over twice my speed, then jumped behind me would make ANYONE nervous. Turns out there was a car similar to mine doing “doughnuts” and blaring its horn in a parking lot close to were I had come from. Luckily the same fuse that controlled my signal lights also prevented my horn from working. I showed the officer the horn did not work. He could have given me two tickets. I didn’t get any.
There was a small town police department officer that tried to do something similar to me. I.e, give me a street fine now, or face worse. I chose the worse, held out my hands and said arrest me. I said my brother, the lawyer, would love to ask the judge if that’s the way things should be done. I also asked for a blood test and Breath test to help prove nothing was in my system.
It comes down to this. Know the law, follow the law. If you don’t, except tickets. If the cops dirty, fight it. Never give up you right to legal defense…
I notice that you used my All Rights Reserved photo without asking for permission, and it appears to be on a commercial site (East Valley Tribune). Where do I send the bill for the use of my photo?
I didn’t see the copyright notice on Mr. Austerfield’s photo when I found it at Flickr. (I now realize that Flickr places this notice at a different location on the page than near the photo). I have removed the photo from my blog and apologized to Mr. Austerfield.