GALO: How long did it take you to compile all of the reports and statistics in this book?

BL: The reports go back to when I was in El Mirage. I had personally done the review of all of these cases. My detectives did the follow-up, but they gave me the reports and I created the summaries. I created this binder (this book if you will) that we ended up giving to Sheriff Arpaio’s office that had summaries of all of them. So, I already had that work available — the summaries of the cases, if you read the police reports. I had the dates, locations — I had all of that information already. I had to retrieve it because I’m retired. Then the research was probably about three months worth [of work]. I went through a lot of my training materials, both training I had received and training I had given. I did a lot of training for law enforcement in my career and teaching at community colleges and so forth. I did some research on new stuff and talked to some people, but for the most part, it took me about three months to compile all of that information.

GALO: Let me ask you a question about Sheriff Arpaio and his focus on illegal immigration. In your book, you mention that he is focused on illegal immigration while ignoring his other duties, such as ensuring that sexual assault cases are properly investigated. Why do you think he’s so obsessed with seeking out and arresting illegal immigrants?

BL: That’s an easy one. I think he’s just pandering to the voters. In Arizona, like in a lot of Border States, immigration is a hot topic, and rightfully so. I put that in the book too. I believe also that the federal government has failed us in immigration enforcement. It became such a hot topic in Arizona and that’s what Sheriff Arpaio always does. He finds whatever the hot topic is at the moment and he’ll just get all of the notoriety for it that he can. That’s what happened. He shifted from other things; he shifted from what he’s done in the past. When immigration became the hot topic here several years ago, he jumped on that bandwagon. Like I said, I just believe what he does is political pandering. And that’s what he did in this case. He redirected and shifted his resources to that end, to do this immigration stuff because he knew he would get notoriety. It’s still a politically hot topic. The headlines in today’s newspaper here say that the GOP’s focus at the convention will be immigration. He knows what’s going on. He knows how to manipulate the media and the public, and that’s what he did.

GALO: What do you think his chances are of winning this election?

BL: I think I’m the only person who says he’s not going to win. Everybody else you talk to says he’s got a million dollar war chest, he’s got so-and-so behind him, he’s got[this] behind him, he’s got that behind him… Truly, I have yet to speak to anybody in the last several months who says they’re going to vote for him. That’s just my own opinion, mind you.

Elections are funny things. Elections are very hard to predict because they all have to do with who actually goes to the polls. People have strong opinions about different subjects, but there’s so much apathy in our society that people just won’t show up. I think that is what’s going to happen. I think that some people are going to say, “Joe can’t be beat, so why waste my time?” But I know the polls right now show he has his lowest approval rating in 20 years. And if the people will actually get out and vote, and if people will vote according to their conscience and vote according to what’s right, they won’t reelect Joe Arpaio. There is no good reason to reelect that man. He has done more harm for our county than good. And as you know from reading my book, I used to be a Joe fan. I used to support the guy, when he first started out. But when I saw what he was really like, when I saw that he started neglecting his responsibilities, going back 10 to 12 years ago, I shied away from the guy. After what he did in El Mirage and the reasons he did it, and what he did to his political enemies, I just think he’s an abusive elected official who has no place in our government.

GALO: County sheriff is an elected position in Arizona. Do you think it should be elected or appointed?

BL: As a career law enforcement guy, I think sheriffs ought to be appointed. I think all law enforcement ought to be appointed. But that’s just my personal opinion. The Arizona Constitution would have to be amended to cause that to happen, and that’s not likely to occur. Arizona is still the Wild West, and people like having their elected sheriffs. So, I don’t see that happening in my lifetime. I would prefer that it be an appointed position because if he was an appointed police chief, and not an elected sheriff, this guy would have been fired 10 years ago for malfeasance, for costing [the taxpayers] so many millions and millions of dollars. No [appointed] police chief would have ever survived this. But while he commits all of these abuses and wastes our tax money on these lawsuits that we’ve had, and the stupid things he spends money on, he still keeps the public thinking that he’s doing the right thing. That’s how he keeps getting reelected. He never would have survived as a police chief or as an appointed sheriff. Some manager or boss like a city manager or county supervisor would have fired that guy years ago, and he knows that. He just thrives on the popularity.

You know, going back to your question before, there is one other thing I would like to mention about my position on immigration. I’m a lifelong Republican. I’m not a Democrat. Even though I’m against Joe Arpaio, I’m a conservative, lifelong Republican. But I’m not a Republican who goes to the polls and goes down the line and checks every name that has an “R” after it. I don’t do that. I don’t believe in that. I believe we have to be a more intellectual electorate. We have to vote for the people who are going to represent us best, whether they’re Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. So, even though I am a Republican, I am not in favor of Joe Arpaio. I will not vote for Joe Arpaio again. I am not in favor of this SB 1070 Law that we’ve got in Arizona, as I wrote in my book. It can’t work. It’s futile. I’m saying that as an experienced police chief. It’s not a doable law that’s going to help anything and it lends itself to abuse. So, there are a lot of things the Republicans in this state have done that I disagree with. I just want to make that clear. I’m not a Democrat or foe of the Republican Party. I consider myself to be an intelligent voter and I look at the issues, not necessarily just the party.

GALO: Do you think that the media has done enough to highlight the problems in the sheriff’s office?

BL: I think the media has done a lot. I think there has been a lot of coverage. They are not letting these issues die. Several years ago, when he would have a screw-up, such as someone getting beat up in his jails or dying, and he’d end up paying a couple million dollars here and a couple million dollars there, he would utilize the media to minimize that. He would do that by staging some other thing that looked positive, like he would do some round-up or some sweep, something to capture positive headlines at the time, when there should be negative headlines because his abuse just wasted millions of dollars of taxpayer money or caused some great harm to somebody. But in the last few years, the media has gotten smart to that game and they don’t let it go anymore. They’re pretty relentless when dealing with the guy, and they keep his negative activities in the forefront.

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