Federal judge hears arguments on county's request to end MCSO oversight

The federal judge overseeing a long running racial profiling case against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office heard arguments Friday on whether to end oversight of the agency.

Maricopa County made the request. Its lawyer argued in court that oversight was successful and there are no more constitutional violations by the Sheriff Office.

The Justice Department said the agency has substantially complied with court orders and oversight should end.

Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy project director on policing for the ACLU, disagrees.

“If we were to terminate reforms today, it would not only be premature, but it would put the plaintiff class at risk of losing the relief that they won,” she said.

But the ACLU acknowledges there are parts of the court orders that may not need as much oversight.

“It's possible we could agree that some of those obligations for reporting to the monitor and all of that could be relieved, so they’re not terminated. They’re still there,” Borchetta said.

The judge did not immediately rule and said there are many different reasons why the question before him is difficult.

Sheriff Jerry Sheridan was not at the hearing, but it was attended by county Supervisor Debbie Lesko.