Federal judge floats sanctions to resolve backlog of Arizona sheriff misconduct complaints
PHOENIX (CN) — A federal judge considered on Friday harsh sanctions against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona if it doesn’t soon resolve a backlog of misconduct complaints stemming from the days of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
A failure to complete investigations for more than 1,400 complaints has kept alive a class action filed nearly two decades ago over racist policies of “immigration sweeps” in which Latinos were disproportionately detained on suspicions of non-citizenship.
While the policies were deemed unconstitutional in 2011, Arpaio — who billed himself as “America’s toughest sheriff” — was found in criminal contempt in 2017 for continuing to order his deputies to enforce them.
https://www.courthousenews.com/federal-judge-floats-sanctions-to-resolve-backlog-of-arizona-sheriff-misconduct-complaints/