Arpaio's shadow looms over Republican candidates for Maricopa County sheriff

Joe Arpaio is not running for Maricopa County sheriff, but his legacy still looms large over the office. That was evident Wednesday during the Arizona Clean Elections debate among three candidates running for the Republican nomination for the Sheriff's Office.

Despite Arpaio being found in criminal contempt of a federal court and costing Maricopa County taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars as the result of a successful racial profiling lawsuit, two of the candidates promoted their connections to him.

Frank Milstead, the former head of the Department of Public Safety and the Mesa Police Department, touted Arpaio's endorsement.

"Joe was tough on crime," Milstead said in an interview after the debate. "Joe has been a friend, and he has been good to me as a police leader. I think that having his endorsement also shows that I am hard on crime."

Jerry Sheridan, a former chief deputy to Arpaio, said there were many aspects of his former boss' administration that he'd like to bring back.

Sheridan said it was not realistic to think Arpaio's outdoor Tent City jail could be resurrected, but he would favor a "barracks type of situation."

"Several of my biggest supporters are people that spent time in Tent City — because it turned them around," Sheridan said.

Mike Crawford, a former Glendale police officer, separated himself from his opponents by saying that he thought the Sheriff's Office needed to "get away from that type of hardcore, tough-as-nails law enforcement."

"I think the shadow of Arpaio is standing next to me here," Crawford said. "We need to be more involved in the community, more receptive to what the community has to say and offer to us, so we can offer better services to the community."

All three candidates said they would work to end federal court oversight

Sheridan and Milstead downplayed the continued federal court oversight brought on by the Melendres racial profiling lawsuit and said they would work to end it.

The Melendres racial profiling case began in 2008 when Latino drivers sued the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, which was then led by Arpaio, alleging they were racially profiled. U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow agreed and, in 2013, mandated court oversight of the Sheriff's Office.

Snow ordered reforms to weed out racial profiling in the Sheriff's Office, although more recent traffic stop reviews have continued to show racial disparities.

Former Sheriff Paul Penzone, a Democrat, inherited the lawsuit and its mandates when he took office in 2017 after ousting Arpaio. During his seven years in office, he could not satisfy all the lawsuit requirements. He lamented the continued federal oversight, citing it as one of his reasons for stepping down. Penzone said the Melendres case was a distraction from the other work of the Sheriff’s Office, calling it “one cloud still hanging over this office."

Sheridan said oversight risked "going into perpetuity" and continuing to drain resources from the Sheriff's Office.

"I never met a deputy that wanted to abuse somebody's civil rights, that took advantage of somebody of his skin color," said Sheridan, who was personally found guilty of civil contempt of court because the Sheriff's Office continued to detain people who were not suspected of committing a state crime but were suspected of being in the country illegally after Snow, the judge overseeing the case, ordered that practice to end.

Milstead acknowledged he was not aware of the unmet benchmarks in the federal oversight process but said the federal monitor was a "negative influence on morale."

Crawford also said he would work to end court oversight but was the only candidate who acknowledged the continued presence of the federal monitor was "because they haven't met the bar that they were supposed to."

"There's a standard where law enforcement should be," Crawford said. "MCSO has not hit that mark."

Milstead: 'There is no systemic racism in law enforcement'

All three candidates cited a need to restore trust between law enforcement and the community.

Milstead said Penzone had done an admirable job with outreach efforts, and he would continue to build upon that form of communication.

"It doesn't matter if you're pro-police or anti-police, we can build relationships with everybody," Milstead said.

Milstead said that Senate Bill 1070 caused the Latino community to see police in a different light. But he also blamed the media for the poor public perception, saying he thought the media tries to erode trust in law enforcement.

"I've been in law enforcement for 35 years, and I can tell you that, in Arizona, there is no systemic racism in law enforcement," Milstead said. "There is no cover-up by police executives for misconduct by law enforcement officers."

That assessment is at odds with a recent report from the Department of Justice, which found the Phoenix Police Department disproportionately targeted people of color.

Crawford argued that the only way to restore trust was for voters to stop electing administrators and go with an officer like him to lead the department.

"I haven't been behind a desk for decades," Crawford said. "I've been out on the streets protecting you."

Sheridan said he has been working to build relationships with the Latino community.

He told the story of meeting an elderly Latino man who had criticized him for his work at the Sheriff's Office. But after two hours, Sheridan was able to win him over, he said.

“By the end of our talk, he had a tear in his eye, and he gave me this,” Sheridan said, holding a black rosary on the stage.

Sheridan worked for the Sheriff's Office for 38 years, retiring as a chief deputy. He defeated Joe Arpaio, his former boss, in the 2020 Republican primary but lost to Penzone in the general election.

Crawford is an Air Force veteran and a former Glendale police officer. Born and raised in New Mexico, he also served as a volunteer firefighter in high school and worked as a deputy in the San Juan County Sheriff's Office. Like Sheridan, this isn't his first run — he lost a primary race for the Sheriff's Office in 2020.

Milstead was appointed as director of the Arizona Department of Safety in 2015 by former Gov. Doug Ducey. Milstead held that position until he retired in 2020. He also previously worked as chief of the Mesa Police Department and an officer with the Phoenix Police Department.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is one of the largest sheriff's offices in the nation, with upward of 3,000 employees, including deputies, jail guards and civilians.

The Sheriff's Office patrols unincorporated areas of the county and municipalities without a designated police force. It also serves Superior Court orders and warrants, collects delinquent taxes, coordinates search and rescue missions and oversees the county's five jails.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Republican candidates for Maricopa County sheriff debate