The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has yet to finish court-ordered reforms tied to a long running racial profiling case.
Now a House Judiciary subcommittee led by Republican Congressman Andy Biggs has scheduled a Friday field hearing so officials can complain about the cost.
The Sheriff’s Office has spent about 14 years working to end racial profiling of Latino motorists, and reform internal affairs while under watch by a monitor.
In scheduling Friday’s hearing, titled "The Monitoring Racket: The Grift that Keeps on Giving," the House Judiciary subcommittee cites a cost figure used by county supervisors to call for an end to sheriff’s office oversight.
Among them is Supervisor Debbie Lesko, who spoke Jan. 30, after the most recent court hearing.
“We believe in those numbers. And the judge implies that they’re wrong,” Lesko said
An independent audit of compliance costs released last fall found that nearly 75% of what the Sheriff’s Office had billed the county for was improperly attributed.
The Justice Department has joined Maricopa County supervisors and the Goldwater Institute in calling for an end to independent oversight of the Sheriff’s Office.
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In a district with more than 80% nonwhite students, the community is calling for a more rigorous effort to protect schools from potential immigration enforcement activity. -
A bill advancing in the Arizona Legislature would direct local police to determine the immigration status of people they’ve arrested. If a person is undocumented, local police would be required to notify federal immigration officers. -
Friday is the final day of a social services event for veterans at the state fairgrounds. It includes satellite courtrooms so former military can clear their records of fines, fees and other minor legal issues. -
The expanded order requires services that transfer money abroad to report data about customers who make transactions over $1,000. -
Investigators released their preliminary report on the DPS helicopter that crashed in Flagstaff last month, killing both officers onboard. The report found no evidence of maintenance issues or ballistic damage but found evidence of main rotor strikes to the tail rotor gearbox.
