Goldwater Institute analyzes MCSO

A conservative public policy research organization has concluded the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is falling short in three areas: law-enforcement services, support services and detention.

The 22-page Goldwater Institute report is unexpected largely because of its source. The Goldwater Institute is an independent, nonpartisan organization that studies and broadens public policy discussion. The organization promotes limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility, principles that were advocated by former Sen. Barry Goldwater.

"Although MCSO is adept at self-promotion and is unquestionably a ‘tough' law-enforcement agency, under its watch violent crime rates recently have soared, both in absolute terms and relative to other jurisdictions," Goldwater Institute researcher Clint Bolick wrote.

"It has diverted resources away from basic law-enforcement functions to highly publicized immigration sweeps, which are ineffective in policing illegal immigration and in reducing crime granularly," the report said.

Arpaio said Tuesday that he had not read the report, nor did he intend to read it.

Arpaio said Bolick failed to ask his opinion about the findings before publishing the report.

"So he's getting his stuff from the open-border people," Arpaio said. "He can't even come up with a new idea. He has to copy everybody else, including your newspaper. That's my response to him."

The Goldwater report faults the sheriff's office for several "misplaced priorities" that have diverted Arpaio's agency from its intended law-enforcement functions, including a huge backlog of outstanding arrest warrants, the closure of satellite booking facilities, poor record keeping and statistics reporting and resistance to public disclosure.

The report sidesteps the policy question of whether the sheriff's office should be in the business of enforcing immigration or whether deputies engage in racial profiling, Bolick said.

"That's perhaps what makes this report different than other critiques that have come out," he said. "We are not differing with the sheriff's office in how it sees its mission. We are taking its mission as a given and finding that the office is not measuring up to its own standards."