Mesa, sheriff spar over crime suppression operation
June 25th, 2008 @ 5:33am
by Sandra Haros/KTAR

Mesa Police Chief George Gascon wants more information about Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's crime suppression operation, scheduled to come to Mesa on Thursday.

Gascon said Tuesday that he was not happy at the way he learned about the operation and also said he wanted more information.

Gascon has expressed concern for months about the sheriff's operation -- initially conducted at Phoenix locations where day laborers gather and in the town of Guadalupe. Critics claim the crime suppression effort is really racial profiling aimed at illegal immigrants.

Gascon said he was notified by letter of the sheriff's plans, but, ``A few moments before I got the letter, I got contacted by one of the news outlets that already knew."

He added, ``We also had been told by some folks last week. Frankly, last week I didn't put much credibility to it because the sheriff had given his word that he would notify us first."

Gascon said there's still a lot he doesn't know about the operation.

``The letter only indicated that they're coming here Thursday. It doesn't tell us how many days they're going to be here. It doesn't give us really the scope of the operation as far as the hours or the location, so we're still trying to work with sheriff's personnel in order to get a little more information."

The chief, noting that the sheriff's earlier operations drew protesters, added, ``I am very concerned for the safety of our officers, and, frankly, I'm also very concerned for the safety of the deputies involved in the operation. I'm also concerned for the safety of the people we serve."

Arpaio said the unwillingness of Mesa police to take his approach to enforcing the state's human smuggling law made coordination difficult.

``It's very difficult to work with police side-by-side when they don't believe in enforcing the laws we enforce,'' Arpaio said. ``If their policy was the same as ours, and they ask (about legal status) and they lock them up, then, you know what, we might be able to work pretty close together.''

Joining Gascon in criticizing the operation was Fabian Cota, the president of the Mesa Police Association.

"It's just common courtesy as a law enforcement agency, [if] you're doing an operation somewhere that's gonna have an impact on another agency, that you let them know this information so that they can deal with it," Cota said.

Cota added Mesa is a large city and not knowing exactly where this operation is happening puts officers and deputies at risk.




http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/119295