The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) has reportedly misused millions of dollars allocated for compliance costs related to a court-ordered overhaul aimed at addressing racial profiling. Indeed, under the infamous former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the agency dramatically increased the number of traffic stops to focus on immigrants. That tough stance led to a $3 million verdict against the office in 2013. Since then, MCSO has repeatedly been called into question for its treatment of Hispanic and Black drivers. That criticism has fueled a wave of expensive reforms.
Between January 2008 to October 2011, MCSO carried out at least 20 major traffic sweeps that targeted primarily immigrant communities. A court ruling required sweeping reforms to the sheriff’s policing. That means rethinking traffic patrols all together and the creation of a completely separate internal affairs unit. Maricopa County has spent $323 million over the decades in legal expenditures, staff monitoring, and costs to comply with court ordered mandates. Projections show that this figure could increase to an astounding $352 million by July 2026.
As we explain in our new report, instead of implementing these reforms, MCSO has diverted money needed for such reforms to other expenses. The agency funded $2.8 million for excess body-worn camera licenses not ordered by courts. Altogether, it spent another $1.5 million to move its internal affairs office out of the police headquarters. MCSO put more than $1.3 million into 42 new vehicles. To coordinate across their own facilities, they purchased a $11k golf cart to help staff shuttle back and forth.
Criticism has increasingly focused on how those funds are used to manage compliance. Budget analysts determined that an average of 70% of positions financed by these funds were either “inappropriately assigned or only partially related to compliance.” Even more troubling, 72% of the $226 million MCSO spent between February 2014 and late September fiscal year 2024 was improperly charged. Sadly, much of this money was wrongfully prorated to the compliance fund.
Maricopa Sheriff Jerry Sheridan has some hard work ahead of him. He’s the fourth sheriff to be trying to clean up the mess left over by their racial profiling lawsuit. Under his leadership, the agency has continued to operate under court supervision, a state of affairs that has stretched for over a decade.
Community advocate Raul Piña advised of the need to watch MCSO’s numbers, pressing that they not be trusted at face value, saying,
“You will have to double-check now whenever the agency talks about statistics.”
Even with long standing worries over financial imbalances, some elected leaders say they still have faith in MCSO’s budgeting unit. Thomas Galvin remarked,
“The board has confidence in MCSO’s budgeting team and will respond accordingly.”