52 arrested in 2-day sheriff's crime sweep in Southwest Valley
by Elias C. Arnold - Jan. 13, 2009 09:34 AM
The Arizona Republic
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arrested 52 people, including 14 suspected illegal immigrants, in a two-day "crime-suppression" sweep and crackdown on human smuggling through the Southwest Valley.

Under the special enforcement, posse members and deputies fanned out Friday and Saturday nights. to patrol 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 Friday afternoon at a command-post news 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 council member disagreed with that assessment, while the mayor said a lack of direct notice of the plan was his only concern.

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

The sweep was 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 conducted the most recent sweeps similarly, sending nearly 200 deputies and volunteer posse members to look for any violation of the law, including traffic and criminal infractions.

The sweeps have raised questions about racial profiling, which Arpaio has vehemently denied. In a news release, he called the Buckeye area a "hotbed of human smuggling traffic."

The Sheriff's Office's 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 drophouses and confiscated nearly 650 pounds of marijuana during the year.

Arpaio said he also targeted the southwestern part of the county because 38 of more than 90 homicides in the area since 2002 were thought to involve illegal immigrants.

He cited a particularly bloody period in 2002 and 2003, when the bodies of 11 illegal immigrants were discovered slain execution-style. All 11 cases remain unsolved.

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

Meck said Buckeye only learned of the sweep a day before via news reports. The town promptly contacted the Sheriff's Office to confirm the report and coordinate its plans.

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

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, the former Buckeye police officer finds the sweep 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 that similar sweeps are planned.

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


http://www.azcentral.com/community/swva ... d0114.html