kengr

I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for the first four decades of my life. I even worked for the police department for nine years in the '90s doing IT and database work. And I could never get my parents to see what a shambolic horror Joe Arpaio was.

The job of the county sheriff is two-fold. Provide law enforcement services and patrol in the unincorporated areas of the county and in the places that don't have their own law enforcement agencies, and to provide jail services and prisoner transportation to and from jail and court appearances. They also jail prisoners sentenced to short custodial terms.

Arpaio was a grand-stander from day 1. He was doing all sorts of things inside the metro Phoenix area, just to get on TV. Meanwhile, the unsolved crime rate in the unincorporated/unserved areas skyrocketed. The civil rights violations he perpetrated against the people whom he had custodial responsibility for went far beyond the pale. In one case, a European citizen who was wanted on a murder charge successfully fought extradition back to Maricopa County because of the reputation of Joe's jails and camps.

People who are reasonably well-to-do-off like to think they have nothing to worry about. 'After all, I don't break the law!' But what about your friends. Or if someone has a car accident and someone dies, and you're arrested for vehicular manslaughter and can't make bail.

It's so easy for your life to go sideways in the blink of an eye, and there are so many monsters like Arpaio out there who want to make your life a living hell because you've been arrested. You haven't been convicted, you haven't gone to trial yet. You may be exonerated, you may have the case thrown out. But you're going to rot until then, and your life may turn to hell forever after.

It broke my heart that my parents kept voting for that bastard, and I'll be really happy when he stops taking space above ground.