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Challenges with federal oversight, staffing await Maricopa County sheriff candidates

Jerry Sheridan (left) and Tyler Kamp
Gage Skidmore/CC BY 2.0, Tyler Kamp
Jerry Sheridan (left) and Tyler Kamp

Maricopa County voters will be electing a new sheriff in November. Whoever that is will be inheriting an understaffed office with nearly 1,300 vacancies.

The office is the fourth-largest in the country. But it has also been under a federal court order for more than a decade after the Department of Justice found MCSO had engaged in discriminatory policing. Those are just some of the challenges awaiting the two men who are now vying to be the next sheriff.

Democrat Tyler Kamp and Republican Jerry Sheridan agree on two things: Filling all those vacancies is critical. And so is finding a way to get out from under the court order that requires federal monitoring of the sheriff’s office.

They disagree, though, on who is best qualified to accomplish those tasks. Kamp is a former Phoenix police officer. He says one of his first actions will be to meet with the federal court monitor, and hire a point person.

"I also am looking to hire a director who will be solely focused on hiring, staffing is at a historical low, and so we have to address this issue, this person will be in charge of recruiting, retention and employee morale," Kamp said.

He said he wants to improve pay and provide mental health resources.

Sheridan is a longtime veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, having spent 40 years with MCSO, and the last several as chief deputy. He says the office is especially short of detention officers.

"Priority number one being recruitment retention, my second priority is going to be to put deputies back out in the field," Sheridan said.

He says MCSO needs to improve pay and retirement benefits. Maricopa County’s expenses tied to the  Melendres racial profiling lawsuit — which was filed under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio — are $280 million, and climbing.

Arpaio’s successor, Paul Penzone, spent the better part of two terms dealing with the fallout before resigning earlier this year. Sheridan, who was Arpaio’s chief deputy, says he argued against many of the immigration sweeps Arpaio staged. But the federal judge overseeing the case ruled Sheridan bore some responsibility for the violations.

Even though the case has been in federal court for more than a decade, Sheridan says he thinks the issues have not been adequately explained to the court.

"As the sheriff, I will have the opportunity to communicate, because now I’m the one responsible for this," Sheridan said.

Kamp says despite the expense of the Melendres case, it was important to expose abuse and corruption under Arpaio and progress is being made.

"And so there are over 200 paragraphs listed in the court order that need to be complied with and as of right now the sheriff’s office over 90% compliant with those paragraphs. So that’s the good news, the bad news is there are still a significant number of misconduct investigations that need to be cleaned up," Kamp said.

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Maricopa County Sheriff's Office/Facebook

Clint Hickman is the only county supervisor who has served during both the Arpaio and Penzone administrations. He agrees on the two priorities identified by Kamp and Sheridan.

"They’re going to have to hurry up to get people into that academy and start training, they have the budget for that … they have open positions … They’re going to have to entice younger people to consider law enforcement as a career," Hickman said.

Kamp and Sheridan both come into the race with credibility questions. Sheridan is on the Brady list, containing law enforcement officials who have a history of questionable conduct, dishonesty or integrity issues.

He questions the timing of the decision by the county attorney’s office to place him on the list in 2022 after he retired.

"I’m private citizen, Jerry Sheridan, I was put on the Brady list, and I don’t understand that, four years later, I’m a private citizen. Why would you put me on the list now, when the previous county attorney didn’t? The only conclusion I can come to ... is politics," Sheridan said.

Kamp’s issues date back to his days with the Phoenix Police Department. An investigation found that he harassed a female officer in texts and comments. The complaint was filed in 2022, months after Kamp had resigned.

"This happened years ago ...   but… um ... these were disrespectful to my wife and that’s something my wife and I have taken care of in the past, we’ve dealt with that, we’ve gotten through that, and, um, yeah, so absolutely as a leader, I should not put myself in that type of position, and so I take responsibility for that," Kamp said.

Both candidates bring extensive law enforcement experience to the race. And although they both have credibility issues, Hickman says the bottom line is they both won their primaries.

"The voter has absolute ability to look deep into these issues … their histories and then vote accordingly," Hickman said.

Election Day is Nov. 5, with early voting already under way.

Al Macias, former KJZZ news director, retired as KJZZ's news director in 2022. He rejoined the station as a features reporter in 2023 and also as a part-time editor in 2024.
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