AZ Sheriff Joe's Next Gimmick: Vote For "Mugshot Of The Day"

What are the odds that the dude with the crescent forehead sunburn in the "View Criminal History" ad is wearing jorts?

 

So you don't have much use for that wacky, pointy-headed concept of "innocent until proven guilty," huh?

There are obviously times when an arrest is newsworthy, and publishing the mugshot is appropriate. But the mere fact that someone has been arrested doesn't require a paper to publicly shame that person, and potentially lead readers to assume that person's guilt (even if the paper covers itself with a legal fig leaf, like the Tribune does).

 

I'm not saying execute them or throw them in the jail for eternity. I'm just saying that somehow, most of us manage to get through the daily grind for decades without getting booked into county lockup. How hard can it be to avoid this fate?

Are you volunteering to be the arbiter of appropriateness? If not, who decides when an arrest is newsworthy? Maybe the best idea is not to even run a story about a crime unless there is a conviction. Because really, in most cases, a story without a mugshot does just as much (if not more) damage to a person's reputation. Think about it ... if you get arrested, the people who know you are still going to know you were arrested whether a mugshot accompanies the story or not.

Never said the rag in our area that publishes a mugshot tab deserved kudos. It is not published by a news organization as far as I can tell. Just saying I don't have a huge issue with it. I did feel sorry for one guy whose mug was published, though. He was a former prep athlete involved in a road rage case. But again, don't follow a guy into a parkling after a near fender bender, then punch him out and threaten his wife, and you probably won't be arrested that day.

 

Wouldn't it be great if this overempowered racist fuck wound up in his own jail's pink jumpsuits?

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-feds-arpaio-violated-civil-rights-164947314.html

 

You mean he's getting in trouble for the exact reasons Maricopa County voters keep him in office?

 

Nick Adenhart still has an arrest warrant in Maricopa County, so it's not as if Sheriff Joe's department is on the ball. The warrant is for failing to appear, of all things.

 

Didn't expect to ever see this, but I think the tide may finally turn on Joe.

He gets absolutely ripped in this report. It's hardly shocking stuff to anyone who has covered his department for years, but it's certainly turning up the heat.

This comes just as he's had to admit that hundreds of sex abuse cases went entirely uninvestigated by his department. He apologized if there were any actual victims who didn't see justice, which was nice of him.

He's too busy with his immigration raids and sweeps to investigate sex crimes against children. His latest raid was on a restaurant. After notifying the media and swarming the restaurant -- which usually involved a SWAT team and a tank -- he proudly announced that they found four employees without proper documentation.

This stuff used to play really well, but like I said, things seem to be changing. The state senate president was just thrown out of office in a recall election. He's the guy behind the anti-immigrant legislation in the state. (He's fond of telling reporters that back in the old days he would have called it Operation Wetback, but we're too P.C these days.) He and Arpaio are tight, and neither one saw it coming.

I'd be very surprised to see Arpaio step down, but at this point it wouldn't shock me if he decided not to run for re-election. This report is just to beginning of his legal problems. This is civil. The criminal stuff is still hanging over his head, and could be uglier.

 

In Alabama, we have "Just Busted" and other spin-offs which feature mugshots of those around the state.

 

Ahhhh, have some fun. They're just criminals.

 

Accused? They send them to prison in Arizona before they're convicted?

edit: guess they are only accused. thought it was a state prison not county jail.

 

He also has a "cold case posse" looking into allegations Obama's birth certificate is forged.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/sheriff-joe-arpaio-tasks-cold-case-posse-to-investigate-obamas-birth-certificate/2011/09/20/gIQAkrZHiK_blog.html