PHOENIX — Dozens of people packed the US District Court on Wednesday evening in the latest meeting over a more than decade-long court order addressing racial profiling in the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
At the center of all the public debate is the tension between holding the Sheriff’s office accountable for historic racial profiling and its price tag of over $350 million in public tax dollars.
An 11-year-old court order stems from the then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio administration, which was found to be racially profiling community members.
Over the past decade, a federal monitor has overseen hundreds of reforms.
The Sheriff said the office has completed nearly all requirements and wants to see the pricey federal oversight end.
"My main job as your sheriff is to keep everyone in this county safe. I work for all 4.7 million people here, and I have this Albatross on my back,” Sheridan said.
After a contentious meeting over the summer, the judge moved Wednesday’s gathering to the courthouse and only allowed previously submitted questions.
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This month, a court audit said that the Sheriff’s Office has been inaccurately attributing tens of millions of dollars of personnel and operating costs to the Melendres case.
Sheridan has questioned the accuracy of the audit.
ABC15 asked the Sheriff how his office didn’t catch the alleged mislabeling internally.
“I don’t think there is any mislabeling,” Sheridan said. "I don’t give the monitors' report any credibility whatsoever."
Sheridan said the inflated personnel costs alleged in the report are due to the long-term support of positions that started due to the need to comply with the court order.
“That’s an occurring cost every year for the last 11 years, that cost doesn’t go away,” Sheridan said.
The courtroom was filled with people who both oppose and support the federal oversight of the agency.
Chris Clark, who's against the court monitoring, said he’s “fed up” with the increasing cost to the public.
“It’s my opinion that the judge has not been holding either side accountable, and the public is actually suffering from this,” Clark said.
On the other hand, supporters of the ongoing oversight, like Albert Rivera, said MCSO has yet to fully comply with all the required changes and that the cost is worth providing accountability.
“How are we supposed to trust Sheridan if he just wants to basically promote people that used to help out Joe Arpaio,” Rivera said.
