Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio does it again!

America’s self-proclaimed, toughest sheriff never met a TV camera he didn’t love. I’m sure he stays up at night figuring out ways to hold yet another press conference to unveil some new way he’s found to humiliate, deprive or otherwise cause suffering to his jail inmates. I’ve never really had a problem with this except for one not so minor detail. A portion of his inmates are not criminals, but people simply waiting for a day in court to prove their innocence. Criminal allegations can stem from mere finger pointing by a mistaken or prevaricating witness. Some innocent people have had to sit in jail for as long as three years waiting for their trials because their bail was set too high for them to post and be released pending trial.

Sheriff Joe is the guy who put his prisoners in striped uniforms, pink underwear and confiscated their girly magazines. Along the way Joe also established chain gangs for the hapless men and women who reside year around in tents.

I’ve known Sheriff Joe since before he was Sheriff and found him to be personable and even enjoyable to be around. His diabolical sense of humor is truly unique and entertaining. In another life Joe could return as a successful comedian.

Sheriff Joe has his detractors who have vented their frustrations to the Phoenix New Times. The allegations and lawsuits against Sheriff Joe and his administration have been ugly, expensive and avoidable.

Sometimes Sheriff Joe has a good idea that’s worthy of yet another press conference and this may be one of them. Of course, I’m going to take credit for the idea that I gave him sometime in 1997. Sheriff Joe took thousands of active arrest warrants and placed the database on the Sheriff’s website. The public is invited to check up on their family, friends, neighbors, and of course enemies. Should a fugitive be located on the database the idea is that Joe’s new "Techno-cop Posse" will drop a dime on the fugitives and Sheriff Joe can hand out more, green bologna sandwiches to his new tenants.

Not all warrants can be listed in this very public forum. Warrants issued as a result of a Grand Jury Indictment are secret until served on the suspect. Joe is working on getting changes made so that every warrant is listed.

What I like about the website is that parents looking for baby sitters, landlords screening prospective tenants and of course employers checking on new hires can be protected from criminal fugitives. This is a reasonable extension of the “Megan’s Law” concept that put the convicted sex offenders in Cyberspace.

Now the bad news, in Maricopa County alone there’s over 70,000 fugitives. If they were all caught in a day, week or even a month they’d have to use the largest sports stadium to house these folks. The courts would be absolutely crushed under the weight of all these cases. In any event I hope this idea spreads across the country.

Click here to read about the first two captures!

A 40 Caliber Nightmare Is Caught On Tape.

So you’re confident that that .40 caliber S&W service round will keep you safe. Maybe you’ll have second thoughts after you see this video. One hot summer night in 1994 Tempe and Mesa Arizona police were involved in a pursuit with this suspect who ran into a stranger’s apartment to hide after being shot TWICE in the chest. He was shirtless and you can see the blood pumping out of those two wounds. What’s really frightening is just how agile this fellow is as he struts to the ambulance. If he was not handcuffed and had a knife or a gun, ask yourself if he could still hurt you, your partner or a hostage? If your jurisdiction demands that officers carry either the 9MM or the .40 Caliber S&W it’s time to show this video to your bosses and lobby to have the .45 ACP round authorized. The switch may well reduce the screaming by self-appointed community activists about how many rounds police had to use on a suspect. The really talented and courageous video journalist, Karen Ke...

The origin of the feature film, COME FRIDAY…

CLick On the pictures to see full size versions. Long ago there was a young lady I had the hots for in a big way (Yes, I know that hots is not a word). She was pretty, incredibly bright, and had some real elegance about her. She had a love for children and basic kindness that you don’t often see in someone her age. I met her parents and could understand she came from a much more stable home than mine. I was raised by a single, welfare mom and suddenly found myself way out-classed. For whatever reasons things did not workout they way I had hoped. Sadly for me, we went on our separate ways. From time to time I’d run into this lady in various places where our job had taken us. Whenever this happened my heart would skip a beat or two. I left my hometown Chicago, and moved to Arizona where I founded my detective agency. As a private eye and soon a TV news producer too, my career took me to the highest profile criminal events in Arizona and throughout the country. There’s no question that ...

Gun vs. Knife

So you think because you carry and know how to use a gun that you will be able to protect yourself from a knife or cutting instrument attack with ease? For those people that think guns are more dangerous than knives, think again. More than 60% of all people shot with firearms even multiple times survive the attack. Cutting and stabbing victims don’t do nearly as well. Bullet wounds self-seal because of the elastic nature of human tissue. Knife cuts lay open and bleed profusely as the veins and arteries are opened wide. Then there are those laughably ignorant people (too many are politicians) who want cops or civilians confronted by knife wielding criminals to either shoot the knife out of someone’s hand or just shoot to wound. You’re about to see that such an effort will get you killed. Watch this video and you will see the knife can easily beat a gun in any contest.

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