Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s New Mugshot Rating Website – Law Enforcement or Sick Entertainment?
(Published today in the Daily Mail, one of the UK's largest tabloids)
He is known for dressing inmates in pink underwear and feeding them green baloney.
And now America's toughest Sheriff has come up with a new initiative to give the public a voice in law enforcement - an online Mugshot of the Day competition.
And now America's toughest Sheriff has come up with a new initiative to give the public a voice in law enforcement - an online Mugshot of the Day competition.
Arizona-based Joe Arpaio, known for his uncompromising stance on crime, is letting the public browse through the mugshots of those arrested each day and then vote for their favourite.
Winner: Tuesday's current leader, by a wide margin, is this shot of Benjamin Luna who was arrested on drugs charges. It is not known what his face is covered in
Barbara Cyran: Arrested for indecent exposure
Timothy Burgess: Arrested for Burglary
The Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff says he hopes the increased Web traffic will highlight the work of his employees.
He also says more crimes may be uncovered if the public can view the photos.
The top picks so far aren't unexpected: They're the most dishevelled, unusual looking people among those booked into an Arizona jail.
And while the new scheme may be controversial, it has the overwhelming backing of those using the site, with 4102 out of the 4964 people who have voted so far agreeing with Arpaio.
Visitors to the Sheriff's page mcso.org are greeted with the day's current most popular shot.
The top seven most popular pictures are displayed first.
Users can also sort those arrested by crime, picking via a menu ranging from sexual offences to assault.
Last month Arpaio was criticised for raiding a suspected cock fighting farm with a SWAT team, a bomb robot, two armoured vehicles, and action movie star Steven Segal.
Jesus Llovera, 42, was arrested for cockfighting after the operation involving Steven Seagal, 58, who drove a tank onto the property as he shot a reality television show.
The Sheriff also came under fire in 2008 for his controversial stance on illegal immigrants.
He was accused of dispatching teams of sheriff's deputies into Hispanic communities where they stopped and arrested anyone who could not prove he or she was a legal U.S. resident.
Tough: Sheriff Arpaio, renowned as America's toughest Sheriff, is notorious for his controversial program.The tactic drew heavy criticism from Hispanic activists, local lawmakers and the Phoenix mayor, who called the crackdown on immigrants a clear case of racial profiling in which only people who looked Hispanic were targeted.
And this month an examination of Maricopa County's finances found that the sheriff's office, inappropriately spent $99 million from two jail funds over the last eight years to pay for other law enforcement operations – including immigration patrols.
The $99 million figure is an update to an estimate made in September by budget officials who said the sheriff's office was believed to have used $60 million and $80 million over four or five years from a jail tax on other purposes.
Since then, officials said they discovered that the sheriff's office had inappropriately spent money from a second jail.
The findings by county budget officials discussed at a meeting Wednesday were sent to federal prosecutors who were already investigating Arpaio on abuse of power allegations
The mugshot initiative is just one of a long list of unorthodox methods employed by the notorious Sheriff.
According to the Maricopa County website, Arpaio served in the U.S. Army from 1950 to 1953 before working as a policeman in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas.
He rose to worldwide fame In August 1993, when he started the nation’s largest Tent City for convicted inmates.
Nearly two thousand convicted men and women now serve their sentences in the temporary canvas city, sweltering in the unrelenting heat.
During the summer of 2003, when outside temperatures exceeded 43 °C, Arpaio famously said to complaining inmates, 'It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents, have to wear full body armor, and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths.'
He is also known for bringing back chain gangs to carry out road repairs, painting public buildings and even working as part time undertakers burying the county's dead.
His tough line on stealing led to perhaps his most memorable stunt, making inmates in the county's prison system wear pink underwear.
He has also banned smoking, coffee, movies, pornographic magazines, and unrestricted TV in all jails.
Click here for the highest rated mugshots of the day.
Click here for my tips on surviving Arpaio's jail. Also on YouTube
Click here for a video of an Aryan Brother murdering an inmate at Arpaio's jail
Shaun Attwood
13 comments:
There are many expletives that I could use to describe this excuse for a man, who hides behind his office in order to commit huge human rights offences! Hopefully the more his crimes are exposed the looser his grip on office will be. The more people that read your story, Shaun, the more the truth will be known.
Charlotte
This is so funny, why has that guy painted his face with whitewash?
Cityboy
humilating prisoners is not the answer
Jospehine
This guy is shocking. I've been a keen follower of his antics for a few years now (and was delighted to find this blog 4 months ago).
What he does is awful, cruel, barbarous and just serves to further marginalise people who've made mistakes and ended up in jail, and ensure there will be no rehabilitation of offenders - who wouldn't fight a system like this?
I'd love to see him charged and convicted of the abuse of power/misuse of funds accusations, and to see him enjoying his first plate of "red death."
John
This is more smoke and mirrors for Arpaio. A weapon of mass distraction if you will. "Sheriff overspent by $99.5 mill" was a recent headline. What did Joe do to counter this news that his office has blown that much moneyy? He has a press release for his raid on a cleaning company that nets 6 mexican women using fake id's. Joe claims this raid was one because of identity theft and how its becoming so bad within the illegal community. Now all the people that support Joe think he's doing a bang-up job battling illegals and identity theft as well.
Its even worse than that if you live locally. This week, the sheriff was asked by the press to hand over a report that he himself commissioned on his own office. He refused citing civil rights and due process, appeals and all kinds of crap. Since when has Joe cared about peoples rights, due process or even basic human rights. All is thrown out the window in Joe Arpaio's world. Just look at the name of his autobiography "Joe's Law". He truly does what he wants and doesn't have to answer to anyone that I can see. The heat got close to him recently and he has put it all off on his underlings claiming ignorance of what might have been going on.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/04/17/20110417joe-arpaio-investigative-report.html
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/04/19/20110419joe-arpaio-conduct-investigation-results.html
~Big Jason
Cos he is a frickin sicko and weirdo; I wish someone would do the same shyt to him as he does to prisoners. What does this idiot think who he is?? Fucking GOD?
Cikala
the only mugshot i want to see is the one taken of joe himself when he finally pays for his actions
this is disgusting. it's not entertaining. humiating people is not the way. these people should be supported, not ridiculed.
L.
Mental-health advocates denounce mug shot contest
Associated Press
Posted on April 23, 2011 at 2:02 PM
PHOENIX (AP) — Mental-health advocates are complaining about a new online contest launched by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office that asks people to choose the most popular jail booking photos posted on its website.
The Arizona Republic reports that more than 25 percent of Maricopa County's inmates admit to having been diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their lives, and at least 20 percent of inmates are prescribed psychiatric medicine in jail.
Arpaio says his office isn't making fun of the mentally ill.
The sheriff's office says Arpaio's new web page attracted more than 135,000 visitors in its first four days of existence. The same page drew 191,000 visitors over the 30 days before that.
http://www.fox11az.com/news/local/120544844.html
You all may bi*ch about Sheriff Joe, but most of the legal citizens of Arizona are proud that Joe is our Sheriff and that is why he is elected back in every time. I am proud hies my Sheriff and have voted for him every time and I will keep voting him in. He follows the law and enforces the laws that Arizona citizens have voted in. He enforces federal law that odumbass and his stupid fools refuse to enforce. Other states has followed and asked Sheriff Joe to come teach them his ways. Other states WANT SHERIFF JOE as their Sheriff. We have a very serous illegal emigration problems that the state can not afford, tax payers are beyond sick of paying for them, our jails and prisons are filled with illegal, they are mostly the ones one welfare, our schools are way behind because the classes are bilingual and that screws up American students education because the teachers have to waste time with the non english speaking students. Since we have no protection at the border ones that have been deported after serving time for serous crimes, come back to Arizona to commit even more crimes. The mexcian drug cartels are not even scared of our government cause they know the feds will not do a damn thing, so Sheriff Joe has to do it all on his own. I am VERY PROUD THAT SHERIFF JOE IS MY SHERIFF!!!! FYI, all you bleeding heart, libral, left democrats can leave this Red Republican state of Arizona anytime you want. You wont be missed or wanted.
Obviously, not all of Arizona's mentally ill are incarcerated... yet.
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