LAURIE ROBERTS

Arpaio racial profiling has cost taxpayers $51 million

Laurie Roberts
opinion columnist
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Hold onto your wallets, Arizona.

New numbers are in and it is thus far costing us $44 million to comply with a judge's orders in the wake of a federal judge's ruling that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office systematically violated the civil rights of Latinos.

Phoenix New Times Columnist Stephen Lemons is reporting that the county's 2016 budget, approved Monday, includes $23.8 million for costs associated with complying with U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow's orders in the Melendres case.

This, on top of nearly $21 million that will have been spent on compliance by June 30.

Add in legal fees and Lemons pegs the total cost of this fiasco at $51 million.

Consider it the cost of having civil rights in this country. You know, the rule of law?

The court ruling stemmed from the case of Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, a Mexican tourist who was stopped outside a church in Cave Creek that operated a day labor center. Melendres, who was riding in a car driven by a White driver, was legally in the United States yet was detained for hours.

Eventually, his lawsuit grew to include others, including the husband of an assistant to a Phoenix mayor -- people who felt they were pulled over by sheriff's deputies and treated differently than White drivers because they were Latino. The plaintiffs sought no monetary damages. Instead, they asked for -- and received -- a judge's declaration that racial profiling must end and a court-appointed monitor to make sure the agency lives by a new set of rules.

The tab for compliance with Snow's orders is being paid directly by Maricopa County taxpayers, right out of the general fund and the meter's still running. This, as Sheriff Joe Arpaio prepares to campaign for an astonishing sixth term next year.

Think about that next time your property taxes come due.

I'm pretty sure I can guess what Arpaio's fan club will say about such a startling, stunning waste of taxpayer cash.

They'll say "Go Joe," of course.