Sheriff, Guadalupe mayor reach agreement for town policing
Reported by: Jose Miguel
Email: jmiguel@abc15.com
Last Update: 6:55 pm

Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the story

Months of arguing might have come to an end Wednesday after a meeting between the new mayor of the Town of Guadalupe and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The disagreement started months ago when the former town mayor accused the sheriff and his deputies of racial profiling.

Arpaio threatened to pull his deputies out, leaving the town without law enforcement -- until today.

Guadalupe's new mayor, Frankie Montiel, sat down with the Arpaio and had an open discussion about the town's concerns and came up with a solution.

"The lines of communication are open and whatever has happened in the past we can address and get over," Montiel said.

Both men agree that what is at stake is public safety and nothing else.

"We will keep enforcing all the laws of Guadalupe, regardless if it's illegal immigration or any other crime that occurs," Arpaio said at the afternoon news conference.

And the mayor went on to say that public safety is what it all boils down to.

"All illegal activity under that umbrella of illegal activities, they cannot be tolerated," he said.

"We sat down as professionals," said Montiel. "We talked about it and it's in everybody's best interest, especially the community members involved, to have a law enforcement agency."

Both the mayor and sheriff understand not all the town's members may agree with this decision, but both men agree it's the best decision they could make.

"I'm gonna back you up 100 percent against anybody that tries to criticize you for encouraging me to protect your town," Arpaio told the mayor.


Copyright 2009 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.http://www.abc15.com/content/news/phoen ... tf7_g.cspx