Arpaio plans another West Valley sweep Saturday
by Elias C. Arnold - Jan. 9, 2009 06:47 PM
The Arizona Republic
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office plans to fan out Saturday for a second "crime suppression" and anti-human smuggling sweep through the southwestern part of the county.

By 8 p.m. Friday, the sheriff's office had arrested eight people, including four suspected illegal immigrants in an area south of Indian School Road from 107th Avenue to the Maricopa-La Paz/Yuma county line.

"What has me concerned in this area is the violence," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said at Friday afternoon at a command-post press conference northeast of Interstate 10 and Miller Road, just outside Buckeye's town limits.



The Sheriff's Office has called the area a "hotbed" of illegal-immigrant trafficking. One Buckeye Town Councilman disagreed with that assessment, while the town's mayor said a lack of direct notice of the plan was his only concern.

The sweep is the first of the year and the second in the West Valley. There were several similar efforts last year in Phoenix and east Valley cities.

The Sheriff's Office planed to conduct Friday's sweep similarly, sending nearly 200 deputies and volunteer posse members out too look for any violation of the law, including traffic and criminal violations.

The sweeps have raised questions about racial profiling and an Arizona Republic analysis showed a mixed impact on crime.

Arpaio has vehemently denied racial profiling. A spokesman has said there is an effect on crime when one considers the broader approach, which also involves jail screening and a human-smuggling unit.

In a press release, Arpaio called the Buckeye area "hotbed of human smuggling traffic."

According to the Sheriff's Office, its human-smuggling unit made 180 felony arrests in the West Valley in 2008, including 22 coyotes and 158 "co-conspirators," or people who had paid to be smuggled. It also uncovered 14 drop houses and confiscated nearly 650 pounds of marijuana during the year.

At the press conference, Arpaio told reporters he also targeted the southwestern county because 38 of more than 90 murders in the area since 2002 were thought to involve illegal immigrants. He cited a particularly bloody period in 2002 and 2003 when 11 bodies of illegal immigrants were discovered murdered execution-style. All 11 remain unsolved.

When asked how traffic stops would help solve the murders, Arpaio said that most crimes are solved through traffic stops and that deputies could stumble onto one of the killers.

"We do not oppose or support such an operation," Buckeye Mayor Jackie Meck said of the sweep. "The important thing is that we want to ensure the safety of our citizens."

According to Meck, the town only learned of the sweep a day before via news reports. It promptly contacted the sheriff's office to confirm the report and coordinate their plans.

The lack of notice was "my only objection," Meck said.

Buckeye Councilman Brian McAchran said he likes having the extra law enforcement help in Buckeye, though "calling it a 'hotbed' is somewhat of a mischaracterization."

Still, he thinks the sweep and its intended impact on illegal immigration is valuable.

"I think there is a cry out there that people want the laws enforced and I think this is having an effect in taking care of that," McAchran said.

Arpaio hinted Friday that similar sweeps are also planned.

"Stay tuned," he said. "We'll be in other locations soon."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... d0110.html