Thread: Sheriff's office does DUI detail in Guadalupe

Sheriff's office does DUI detail in Guadalupe
April 21, 2008


After a week of acrimony between the sheriff's office and Guadalupe officials, Sheriff Joe Arpaio sent his deputies back into the tiny town Sunday to conduct drunken drivers patrols and investigate a double shooting and stabbing.

Sheriff's spokesman Doug Matteson said the actions had nothing to do with a letter Arpaio sent last week to Guadalupe Mayor Rebecca Jimenez, telling her his department will stop providing law enforcement services to the town in six months.

``This was planned before the letter was given to the mayor," Matteson told CBS-5. ``We still are the contract law enforcement agency for the town of Guadalupe."

The DUI enforcement was spurred by a low-rider car show. Alcohol was not sold at the car show, but Matteson said some people took it in or drank before they arrived at the show. Sheriff's officers also ended up investigating the shooting and stabbing incidents which sent two men to hospitals.

``We are enforcing all laws, the sheriff has made that his priority. We are enforcing all laws in the town of Guadalupe, that includes illegal immigration," Matteson said.

``We're not targeting anyone due to race or color of skin or anything. This (the low-rider show) is an event with the amount of people who are going to be here. This is our contract city."

Matteson said 105 people were stopped for possible DUI, five were arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

One woman viewed the sheriff's actions as racial profiling.

``They're saying they're doing the DUI task force, but I believe it's just to stop anybody that looks brown," she said.

Controversy erupted earlier this month when Arpaio did one of his ``crime suppression" patrols in Guadalupe, a one-square-mile town on the Phoenix-Tempe border with a predominantly Hispanic population. The mayor and others complained that the patrols are aimed at illegal immigrants and amount to racial profiling.

http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=813870

One woman viewed the sheriff's actions as racial profiling.

``They're saying they're doing the DUI task force, but I believe it's just to stop anybody that looks brown," she said.




Oh puh-leeeze lady....shut up already.

Almost everybody out here "looks brown", including those who tan well for God's sake. Even I lean toward the "dark beige" section of the color wheel and I'm the poster child for Caucasian.

Geeeeezzz................