Arizona sheriff's office misused millions meant to remedy racial profiling, report reveals - Associated Press
Source: Prescott eNews Prescott, AZ/AP
Published: October 10, 2025
The sheriff’s office for metro Phoenix spent millions of dollars budgeted for compliance costs in a racial profiling case over Joe Arpaio’s immigration crackdowns on things that had little or nothing to do with a court-ordered overhaul of the agency, according to an expert’s report. The report released Wednesday criticized the use of compliance money by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to fund personnel costs and tasks, either in part or in full, that aren’t connected to the overhaul.
It also pointed out inappropriate spending: $2.8 million for surplus body-worn camera licenses that went beyond the court’s orders; $1.5 million in renovations in the relocation of an internal affairs office; over $1.3 million to buy 42 vehicles; and an $11,000 golf cart to bring staff from headquarters to the internal affairs operation, even though the department was leasing parking space at the latter location.
For over a decade, Maricopa County taxpayers have picked up the bill for remedying constitutional violations found in a 2013 profiling verdict over then-Sheriff Arpaio’s traffic patrols targeting immigrants.
The racial profiling case centered on 20 large-scale traffic patrols launched by Arpaio that targeted immigrants from January 2008 through October 2011. That led to the profiling verdict and expensive court-ordered overhauls of the agency’s traffic patrol operations and, later, its internal affairs unit.
Read more: https://prescottenews.com/2025/10/10/arizona-sheriffs-office-misused-millions-meant-to-remedy-racial-profiling-report-reveals-associated-press/