sheriff Joe Arpaio

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Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio joins HORIZON to talk about his controversial Illegal Immigration Interdiction Unit.

>>Ted Simons:
Tonight on "Horizon": Sheriff Joe Arpaio joins us in a moment to talk about his anti-illegal immigration operations throughout the county. Plus an amazing new implant gives patients relief from degenerative disc disease. We take you through one valley woman's surgery and recovery. Those stories coming up next on "Horizon."

>>Announcer:
"Horizon" is made possible by contributions from the friends Of Eight, members of your Arizona PBS station. Thank you.

>>Ted Simons:
Good evening. Welcome to "Horizon." I'm Ted Simons. Operation "Jump Start" is over. The two-year program deployed National Guard members to the Border to assist border patrol agents on immigration enforcement. Governor Napolitano today expressed disappointment that Washington ended the program.

>>Ted Simons:
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's volunteer posse and Deputies wrapped up an unannounced crime suppression operation in the city of Mesa yesterday. Protestors and opponents have drawn attention to the controversial program--- saying racial profiling takes place in the operations. Joining me now is Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Sheriff Special Operations Bureau Director, Larry Black.

>>Ted Simons:
Thank you both for joining us on "Horizon."

>>Larry Black:
Thank you.

>>Ted Simons:
Sheriff, good seeing you again.

>>Joe Arpaio:
Great seeing you.

>>Ted Simons:
Let's talk about this operation yesterday in Mesa. No warning to Mesa police this time. Why?

>>Joe Arpaio:
I think last time, two-day notice to the chief, all the demonstrators were pre-warned. We did not make as many arrests compared with yesterday. We made 40 arrests and 26 happened to be illegal, pursuant to our duties. So everything went great. We had no problems. A few demonstrators. But no concern.

>>Ted Simons:
Unusual law enforcement tactic, though, though goes into a city like that and not at least give some notification to the police department?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Well, we did notify the police. We always do. When we went in there we let them know we were there.

>>Ted Simons:
Forewarning I meant.

>>Joe Arpaio:
We did give them forewarning when we went in there we let them know. We do this quite frequently around the Valley. DUI task force, drugs, I can go on and on. So we don't tell the police department when something immediate occurs we can't. But we know when we have an operation we do tell them -- Like in Phoenix, regardless of what the mayor has said, we notified Phoenix two days in advance.

>>Ted Simons:
The quote from Mesa P.D. regarding yesterday's operation in general what's going on there, the quote was "it's not about immigration but everything to do about officer safety" can you talk about notification there? Comment if you would.

>>Joe Arpaio:
As I say we do this quite frequently. We did notify the police department. I think you're quoting the union head.

>>Ted Simons:
Actually it's an assistant in the department.

>>Joe Arpaio:
Well, we did notify the assistant police chief. We let them know we were there.

>>Ted Simons:
Mesa says it wants forewarning again to keep the peace. Are you buying that?

>>Joe Arpaio:
It took 135 cops to watch 50 demonstrators. We did the same with 200 demonstrators in Phoenix, Guadalupe with five deputies. So they can do what they want, I do what I want. I did not want the taxpayers again to have to fund all that overtime. So I moved the command post in Tempe and we had no problem.

>>Ted Simons:
Talk, if you would, about your relationship with local police departments.

>>Joe Arpaio:
Our relationship is excellent, excellent. We have task forces that we run, drug task force, west side task force, great cooperation with the FBI, the DEA, the I.N.S. or I.C.E. today. And we work with police all the time. We train them in our academy. We don't have to do that. So we have great relationship with the police. It's the politicians sometimes that the sheriff has problems with.

>>Ted Simons:
Is there -- there seems to be A perception, though, especially when it comes to Phoenix and Mesa in particular, that there are tensions there, that the cooperation and coordination isn't what it should be. Fair criticism?

>>Joe Arpaio:
No, I don't think so. We have come into Phoenix on graffiti with 600 posse. We've gone to Van Buren Street six times to drive out the prostitutes. We come in to lock up fugitives. We do this all the time. But the minute you mention illegals everybody goes crazy. They don't care about other operations. Why when you mention illegal immigration that we will arrest pursuant to our duties everybody goes crazy?

>>Ted Simons:
Why do you think that is?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Because they don't want us locking up illegals. You want to put the card on the table?

>>Ted Simons: Yeah. And I question that. I'm questioning you on that, I should say. Because it suggests that the police department -- let's go to Mesa in particular here, is either undermining or not cooperating with the sheriff's department in enforcing the law. That's pretty harsh.

>>Joe Arpaio:
Well, you know what they don't enforce the law the way we do. Let's be frank about it. We have 160 officers trained by I.C.E. largest in the history of the United States. We are the only law enforcement agency enforcing the state law. You know there's a Human Smuggling Law Class 4 felony? You can't even make bond? Why are we the only ones? We locked up 1,015 already. Why isn't any other law enforcement agency enforcing all aspects of the state law? They can't criticize federal. It's the state law.

>>Ted Simons:
The governor recently took away state funds that you had been using for immigration enforcement, put them into this other multi-agency operation that just announced I think yesterday That by since the end of may they've made a certain number of arrests of violent criminals. First of all, your thoughts on the governor taking away that money.

>> Well, you know, I've been defending the governor for many years. I worked with her when she was U.S. Attorney, attorney general. In fact, I had lunch with her two weeks before she took the money away. But I think this all has to do with politics. I think she made the wrong move. I think she's listened to the wrong people. That money was given to me by the legislature, not the governor. And when she uses the excuse along with the mayor that we should go after 40,000 warrants we've had those warrants for years and years-Why now?-Not my responsibility. Mesa has 36,000 warrants. I only had 1500 and I'm responsible. Not 40,000.

>>Ted Simons:
And yet she did say that clean up some of these warrants along with, it sounded to me, like a better cooperation and coordination within agencies was one of the reasons -- among the reasons why she took money away. Comment on that if you would.

>>Joe Arpaio:
First of all, we work with all the other law enforcement Agencies too going after warrants and everything else. We do this constantly. But this was the money that was directed to me by the legislature to enforce the state law that we're the only ones enforcing now. The Human Smuggling Law. Not the suppression operations. So why did she take them away? Because everybody is trying to subterfuge, camouflage to try to destroy me, take my money away, do everything, going to the Justice Department, asking for investigation. Everything because I'm doing my job.

>>Ted Simons:
I wanted to ask you specifically about that. Why do you think from the governor taking away the funds to the criticism from the mayor Of Phoenix asking D.O.J. to come in there, from the Mesa Police Chief, the problems there, why Do you think people are opposed to you doing this particular type of law enforcement?

>>Joe Arpaio:
I don't know. You say "people" a poll today 86% against the mayor's 14%. By the way, I don't want to get into politics but every name that you mention are all Democrats. I have never seen a Republican criticize my operations. I don't know. Has this got something to do with politics?

>>Ted Simons:
Well, I'm asking you.

>>Joe Arpaio:
I don't know.

>>Ted Simons:
Do you think it has something to do with politics? You're talking about the Governor and you're talking about police chiefs and you talk about law enforcement. And usually people are somewhat on the same table regarding how to take care of a certain crime. There seems to be a pretty big disconnect here.

>>Joe Arpaio:
That's not my problem. I'm enforcing the law. They took an oath of office like I did to enforce the laws. I'm doing that and we've been very successful because a lot of people are leaving. They're going back to where they came from. That's the whole issue here. It's an educational issue, it's a deterrent. I just want to send a message and out that if you violate the law, you're here illegally--you're going to jail. Now they're flooding the Mexican Consul. Everybody is leaving. If they want to blame me for it, it's working, right?

>>Ted Simons:
Can someone disagree with the tactics of a sheriff's department, you in particular? Can they disagree without being a political enemy?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Of course. A lot of people disagree. I got religious groups, they picket me. They call me every name in the book. Hey, that's okay.

>>Ted Simons:
And the same tone can they disagree without being branded soft on immigration? Are there ways of looking at the immigration issue that may not agree with yours?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Yeah. But you know what? If they don't like the law, change the law. Now, I don't know about disagreeing with that issue. I'm enforcing the law. Now, as long as the law is there I'm going to enforce it. If they don't want me to enforce it that's their problem. Let's change the law if they don't like the law.

>>Ted Simons:
It seems as though much of the criticism, though, seems to be on priorities. Going after certain types of criminals as opposed to just someone who happens to be here illegally. And I know that word "just" is operational there. But the fact is you have serious violent criminals and you have criminals who aren't necessarily serious and violent. Do you understand how people are concerned regarding that?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Sure. But we go after DUI's with task force. Nobody complains about that. In the process of our operation we arrested over 217. And by the way, 50% happen to be illegal. We have arrested in one month, one month, three different adults raping young girls and they're all illegal. So we do -- and we serve -- Solve a lot of cases because of warrants. In police work when you stop someone, even on a minor violation, you're going to catch other different types of crime. That's how police work is.

>>Ted Simons:
Yet again there is criticism that because so much emphasis is going out on folks who may not be violent criminals that response times are down, that arrest rates are down, these sorts of things are happening. Is that a concern of yours?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Well, you know what? For all the critics out there, why is it the Mesa police, they say they only go after violent criminals? Why is 50% of all the people they book into my jails are misdemeanors? And you know what, the Phoenix Police the same way. Why is 50% of everybody they lock up are misdemeanors, minor crimes. Evidently they're locking up minor crimes, too, not just the sheriff.

>>Ted Simons:
But again, viewers of the program, those of us who live in Maricopa County, you're our sheriff. We want to make sure that day-to-day police operations are not being compromised by too much of an emphasis on this particular aspect of illegal immigration. Reports are out that response times are down and the arrest rates are down, especially since your emphasis on illegal immigration. That has to be a concern.

>>Joe Arpaio:
No. That's a report by the Mesa Tribune. That's their idea. If you want to get more I can have Larry address that. That's their idea. But I'm not going to criticize another news agency through this news agency. I'll deal with the Tribune in their five-part series myself directly with them regardless of what the circumstances are.

>>Ted Simons:
Well, that being said, and I appreciate that, the fact is if people hear or get the impression that in El Mirage, for example, a certain number of serious crimes had little or no investigation, if they see and hear that, the confidence wanes A little bit.

>>Joe Arpaio:
Don't believe it.

>>Ted Simons:
So you're saying it's not true?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Don't believe it. I'm not going to go any further than that. This is an agenda, which I hate to talk about the paper. In general terms this is an agenda they have. You know what; I open up all the books. What agency will let them look at everything? I have nothing to hide. They spent days and days and days in my office going through everything. If I had something to hide you think I'd be stupid enough to let them see everything that we are doing on illegal immigration?

>>Ted Simons:
I would say it wouldn't be something to hide but it would be something to address if response times are down, if outlying areas.

>>Joe Arpaio:
I could have Larry address that if you want to discuss it here in this show. I'd be glad to address it.

>>Ted Simons:
Well, Larry, I don't want to get too far afield here. Just in general, response times, arrest rates. Are they down especially in the past few years?

>>Larry Black:
The difference is negligible. We have seen a little bit of drop in our response times. But I think a lot of this article we've been talking about when you decide what the answer is going to be ahead of time and then you focus towards those then you can look at it. It's a way that we account for -- we use response times as a way to determine how effective we are. And we're fine tuning them all the time. And so our response times haven't changed that much. I mean, I heard the comment the other night 36% or whatever. And I've looked at all the numbers again and again and I'm not seeing where he's coming up with those kind of number if he's interpreting correctly. And stats can be interpreted any way you want. I could turn around and make a case that since we have done this our response times are better. Those kinds of things are all within that game plan. And I think that's what's happening.

>>Ted Simons:
Can you say, sheriff, that response times have not been affected, arrest rates have not been' affected, outlying areas have not been affected by the recent emphasis, let's say two to three years on illegal immigration?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Yes. Yes. There's a lot of variables. The money that they accuse me of using, they're expending at the risk of normal duties. By the way, why don't they say we gave back $5 million? Everybody is in the hole. This sheriff just gave back $5 million to the county in the black. They don't want to talk about that. So I think we know how to do the illegal immigration, run the jails, do all our duties and we even gave money back. You don't think the paper will say that do you? I'm saying it right now in public we gave money back. $5 million. I want any other government agency to tell me that they gave back $5 million.

>>Ted Simons:
Okay. But I want to square especially the thing that's of most concern at least personally and that's the operations, the fact that response times and arrest rates -- you're saying that's something you will address, not necessarily accurate.

>>Joe Arpaio:
Yeah. I'll address it with them if I want to do it. I don't know if I want to respond. I'm responding here. We do every type of violation of the law and we're pretty good at it. My dedicated deputies and officers.

>>Ted Simons:
The criticism that priorities are skewed. Respond to that if you would. And it kind of ties into everything we've talked about right now, whether or not going after the proverbial dishwasher in Mesa as opposed to the Kingpin Human Smuggling Operative. Have you had many arrests of Kingpin Human Smuggling Operatives?

>>Joe Arpaio:
I think 1,015 arrests of felons; class 4 felons were so serious they can't get out on bond? I think that's pretty good. We'll put our record before anyone. Also 15,000 we have investigated checked into our jail. We proved that they are illegal since the police won't ask; we do, so we prove 15,000 people into our jail were illegal. We investigated that.

>>Ted Simons:
Are these serious criminals accused of violent crimes?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Today we have 10,000 inmates, 20% are illegal. 20% are illegal for every type of crime, murder, rape, you name it. They're in our jail today, booked by every law enforcement agency. I think 20% tells you something.

>>Ted Simons:
Last question. For lack of a better word, we'll say bravado. Your style has a certain way to it. Some folks gravitate to it, some folks are repelled. Do you think that your style, the bravado, if you will, hurts you in getting your message across or hurts you in general law enforcement?

>>Joe Arpaio:
Well, when you're known around the world and everybody wants my interview, over 3,000 just overseas, I never get a negative, that's my personality. I'm not a typical politician that's going to put on an act. What they see they get with this sheriff. So you want to call it bravado, tough, that's me. I spent 48 years in law enforcement as the head of the DEA in Mexico, South America, Turkey. I've been around. I am now the sheriff of 4 million people. And thank God that I'm elected and I only report to the people. So you can call me whatever name you want. But I'm just doing my job. I love this job. I'm going to continue serving the people.

>>Ted Simons:
10 seconds. Could the job -- could you do the job better without the confrontational aspect of it?

>>Joe Arpaio:
No. Because I'm an elected sheriff. I'm not a CIA operation. I'm talking to you. They all come to me and I speak out. The people deserve to know what their sheriff is doing. I don't hide anything.

>>Ted Simons:
All right, sheriff and Larry, Thank you both so much for joining us on "Horizon." Nice to see you again.

>>Joe Arpaio:
Thank you.

>>Ted Simons:
Patients suffering with neck And arm pain from Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease now have hope for relief. A new artificial disc has been approved for the cervical spine By the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Following surgery, patients maintain motion in their necks. One valley woman allowed us to video her surgery at Arrowhead Hospital. The small stainless steel disc was implanted into her spine. Merry Lucero has the story.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
My zoo. I love animals. I've had horses since I was two. And I started riding when I was Two.

>>Merry Lucero:
Watch Jo Viss Furno for a moment and her love for animals, especially her horses, are clear. She is a competitive barrel racer, a precise and aggressive sport in which she has been competing since she was a young girl. But more recently, pain in her neck forced her to put her riding on hold and her love of the sport became bittersweet.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
I miss running barrels, I miss being around the horses. I've done it all my life. That's what I do.

>>Merry Lucero:
Viss Furno also missed being an energetic mom to her three sons.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
I do a lot of things with my boys. They're very active. They all play football. I'm very physical with them. And -- as my neck got worse and worse I couldn't play with them.

>>Merry Lucero:
Viss Furno's passions had turned to pain. It began with an accident in 1999.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
I was on a quad with my boys and I had an accident. Just kind of figured it would go away, that I would be all right. And then it just -- it started getting bad. I went in, had some x-rays done. And they said, well, it looks like one of the discs in your neck has been damaged. But it wasn't bad and it was something that I could live with and I did for a long time. But as the years went by, it just progressively got worse and worse and worse.

>>Merry Lucero:
In addition to her injury, Viss Furno had Degenerative Disc Disease.

>>Michael Cluck
Degenerative Disc Disease is a process where by the discs slowly desiccate over time or dry up. It's a natural aging process that occurs in all the discs in our body in the spine. When it becomes a disease is when it starts to produce symptoms.

>>Merry Lucero:
The main symptom, pain, plus numbness in her arms and hands. Viss Furno tried several treatments.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
I've tried the injections, the steroidal injections. Before that I was going to -- I was trying a massage before the doctor even told me what I should do and what I shouldn't do. That is what something I probably shouldn't have done. And they sent me the physical therapy.

>>Merry Lucero:
Nothing relieved the pain. And the heartache from missing what she loved to do was nearly as bad.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
There are still so many things it's taken away from me.

>>Michael Cluck:
Hey, Jo. How are you doing?

>>Jo Viss Furno:
Good. How are you?

>>Merry Lucero:
Then Viss Furno went to see Dr. Michael Cluck, a surgeon at the Spinal Institute of Arizona. Dr. Cluck had good news.

>>Michael Cluck:
Fortunately for Jo she had one level, which is always a good indication. If you only have to fix one area. She had a lot of arm pain. So I knew her nerves were pinched. I mean, I could tell just from her physical exam findings but also the MRI.

>>Merry Lucero:
Those signs plus her age, overall good health and motivation to heal made her an excellent candidate for a new artificial cervical disc replacement implant.

>>Michael Cluck:
This is a real advancement, if you will, in the management of Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease. It's a way to stabilize the neck after the decompression, after getting the pressure off the nerves in the spinal cord. It's a way to stabilize the neck that allows for motion to occur.

>>Merry Lucero:
In the past, nerve-pinching disc material was removed and patched with a bone plug, then fused with a metal plate.

>>Michael Cluck:
The drawbacks to this, one is you fuse the segment. We know now this segment is not going to move anymore. That's our goal. We also know that level above and the level below this fused segment are going to undergo more stress.

>>Merry Lucero:
And the recovery time from fusion surgery is longer. But the prestige cervical disc is a new technology.

>>Michael Cluck:
This is a different implant you can see already. Because the metal parts don't cross the disc space. So whereas before we were fusing that segment, now we have this plate and screws with an opening in between. And that opening is the articulation. So if I take this piece off, you can see now that the top of the construct of the ball, okay? And it's attached to the vertebral bodies with screws. The bottom is a trough. And that trough then articulates with the ball and allows motion to occur through that segment. So that this can move up and down through flexion and extension.

>>Merry Lucero:
And also bend side to side. A movement Jo wants desperately to be able to do again.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
It would be a miracle if everything turns out the way it's supposed to be, it would just be an answer to prayer.

>>Merry Lucero:
The surgery begins. It is done in an anterior approach, or through the front of the neck.

>>Michael Cluck:
It is pretty clear once I was in there why she was having so much pain. I mean, I could see the disc protrusion, I could see the swollen nerve roots. And so exciting that kind of bone and getting rid of that disc protrusion I knew was really going to help her.

>>Merry Lucero:
Dr. Cluck begins to create space for the implant.

>>Michael Cluck:
An important part of the surgery is getting the midline, making sure the implant goes right in the middle of the spine. So we put these pins in to mark the midline and distract the disc space so we can clean it all out, get all the pressure off the nerve roots and those pins demark the midline for disc implant.

>>Merry Lucero:
The doctor carefully checks the x-rays as he goes.

>>Merry Lucero:
Dr. Cluck use as trial device to test for the right size.

>>Michael Cluck:
So now we have our depth of the trial, the implant depth in terms of how far back we want it to go within the disc space. Now we're going to use this trial to assess how well the anterior of the front part of the implant will fit on the vertebral bodies.

>>Merry Lucero:
An overhead camera mounted above the procedure gives the surgeon a bird's eye view.

>>Michael Cluck:
Implanting the disc went really well. It was -- it's almost a textbook type of surgery.

>>Michael Cluck:
So 5, 6 vertebra--Here's the implant obviously. The set joints here are nice and spaced equally so they're not too distracted. The implant sits flush with the vertebral body. Yeah, I think it looks perfect.

>>Merry Lucero:
As expected, the surgery has taken three hours.

>>Michael Cluck:
Her post-op recovery went well. She had very little in the way of--of sore throat and some of the things we see with cervical surgery. She didn't have much of that at all. Overall she's done really well.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
The problems ways having before I was thinking I don't think I'm ever going to be able to ride again.

>>Merry Lucero:
But Viss Furno is riding again. And within just a few weeks of the surgery.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
It's wonderful. To be back on the road again and running competitively. It feels really good.

>>Merry Lucero:
Jo Viss Furno is recovered, back to her active lifestyle and back in the saddle again.

>>Jo Viss Furno:
Good boy.

>>Ted Simons:
Thanks for watching "Horizon." You have a great evening.

Joe Arpaio:Maricopa County Sheriff;Larry Black:Director, Special Operations Bureau, Maricopa County;

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