Arizona Sheriff Neglects 400+ Sex Crime Cases

Sex crimes really irk me. People who ignore sex crimes or ‘let it slide’ irk me even further. So, naturally when I heard the news that a sheriff in my state, Arizona, was ignoring sex abuse cases, I was angry. I still am.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, best well-known for his stance against illegal immigration, failed to investigate over 400 sex-crimes. Some of these cases involved child molestations of victims as young as two years of age. The Sheriff’s office failed to follow through in cases even with known suspects.

Women and girls make up the majority of the victims of sexual violence. Every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. According to the FBI, it is estimated 84,767 forcible rapes occurred in 2010. However, that number is very low. That statistic only includes those forcible rapes that were reported.

A conference followed the release of the article. Of course, Sheriff Arpaio denies knowing any information regarding the neglected cases. During the conference he apologized to any victims of the cases, as if that would get him off the hook. In my opinion, an apology does not dismiss his actions or the actions of his sex-crimes squad.

432 sex-crime cases were reopened in El Mirage and other parts of the country. The child molestations already mentioned included dozen of cases that were poorly investigated or not investigated at all occurred over a span of three years, ending in 2007.

19 arrests have been made since the cases have been re-opened. The sheriff office argues this number is average for sex-crime related arrests throughout the U.S. Of course, more arrests could have made if law officials actually did their jobs and did it correctly. Victims of these cases could have had justice a long time ago.

Many believe Arpaio should resign, myself included, but the sheriff stated, “I am not going anywhere.” Arpaio was too focused on illegal immigration; he failed to provide any attention to those cases not related to illegal immigration. Raul Grijalva, a Democratic U.S Representative, wrote a statement urging the resignation of the Arpaio. Grijalva states,

“The picture emerging — no follow-up, no investigation, no prosecution, no justice and a shield of silence after the fact — is not how we conduct law enforcement in this country. Enforcing laws against violent crime, whatever a victim’s legal status, is mandatory and not something we leave to individual communities as an open question. Selective enforcement undermines respect for our brave legal officers and is rightly not tolerated by the public.”

Actions in the sheriff’s office to improve their investigations have since been made, including removing some employees from investigating sex crimes. Let’s hope for the sake of victims of sex-crimes they do a better job than the last set of employees in the sex-crime unit.

Thus far, 428 of the reopened investigations have been completed. It was concluded that

• 69 cases could not be pursued further due to lack of information
• Over 220 were dismissed by prosecutors or lacked evidence in order to be prosecuted
• 116 were regarded to not add up or have facts to pursue further

The sheriff’s office will be hearing from me. Speak up too. Let Joe Arpaio and other law enforcement officers know it is not okay to neglect sex-crime cases. Let’s not let those responsible law enforcement officials get off easy with just a slap on the wrist. If they just get a slap on the wrist, what does that say about America and their stance on sex-crimes, the majority of these crimes which occur to women and girls?