Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan recently joined the show to talk about his work with immigration authorities, his chronic staffing shortages and his history as former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s chief deputy.

The department was found to have committed a crime in a landmark case filed by ACLU, Melendores v. Arpaio over a decade ago, and is under the eyes of a court appointed monitor accused of accusing the department of accusing the department of complying with a series of court orders aimed at ensuring that they do not discriminate against Latinos.

Sheridan told Shaw that he disagreed with everything Arpaio had done and that he wanted to leave the department from under this expensive court order.

However, longtime member Raul Piña Community Advisory Board The MCSO leadership, charged with overseeing compliance with MCSO’s court orders, says he has never fully admitted to harming Latinos in Maricopa County, or has committed to a genuine rethinking of his approach. The board is independent and has been created by the courts. Piña told the show their goal was to promote communication between the monitor, the MCSO and federal courts.

Piña attended the show and talked about the progress he saw. And if you think Sheridan can pass them to the finish line.

He also contacted the Sheriff’s Office about a community meeting in Guadalupe. Piña said she tried to postpone the last moment Sheridan took office. A spokesman said Sheridan showed that she made the request as the meeting fell on “National Day of Protest” when protesters called for action at the meeting.

Following the night of protests in Glendale, the windows of a police cruiser were destroyed.

“There are all these signs leading up to the meeting,” the sheriff’s office said, “We wanted everyone to be safe.”

He also contacted former Sheriff Paul Penzone for comments. I have not received a response.

Complete conversation

Raul Piña: So I got involved in the Mellendres incident when I was the principal of Maryvale’s primary school and started listening to the children saying, “My mother was deported and my uncle was deported or detained.” And I saw the pain in their faces and tears in their eyes, and I went to a community meeting in one of our schools.

And I was interested in trying to do something right away. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I volunteered through the ACLU and tried to serve in a taxi if you would.

Lauren Gilger: Okay, you’ve been on the board for eight years and a long time. And what progress did you see within the sector in trying to follow this order and prevent them from racially profilering members of the Latino community?

Piña: I think we are in a place that we still don’t have the will of the organization and the commitment to bring about this reform. That’s different, the adjustments and A, and the engine overhaul are very different and I think it’s easier to promise to improve the system, tweak and change the system.

But I don’t think there was a realization that it caused an incredible amount of pain in the community. We don’t want to go back to that place. I don’t think we’re there yet.

Gilger: So, what are the requirements you look at more specifically, as they are incredibly granular and detailed in terms of measurements that MCSO officers are trying to prove to the court that this is met? what are they?

Piña: The way I see it, leadership is technical, leadership is symbolic. So there are some technical aspects that must occur in the reform process. There are measurements and the criteria that the judges will tell us. Ultimately this is sufficient and this has lasted for three years. That’s important.

The iconic aspect of leadership is when the new sheriff is asked to file a petition with the court at 4:30pm to prevent a 6 o’clock community meeting in Guadalupe. There is a symbolism there. There’s probably something intangible, but it’s huge. People will feel very uncomfortable when a new sheriff does so. So these represent where you are as an agency and where your leadership stands.

Gilger: So there’s probably a symbolic measure that gives a lot to the trust of the community.

Piña: absolutely. People listen to messages in messages. For example, when the sheriff said there was no racial profiling for the 10 years we have. In other words, MCSO committee research shows that racial profiling exists. There is racial bias during traffic stops. That’s it. The evidence is there, but it doesn’t exist for the sheriff to say that racial profiling hasn’t happened in 10 years, that’s a concern.

Gilger: So you’re talking about what the new sheriff, Jerry Sheridan, said. But he also told me on the show, that he told me that much earlier on the show, he opposed a lot of what Joe Arpaio was doing at the time, and he didn’t think they should target Hispanic neighborhoods to do saturation patrols.

Piña: I think that’s a good feeling to express, but it requires a leadership layer to maintain medical malpractice. You need to do so, if you create some distance between you and that pain caused in the community, I think you have to take a stronger attitude towards it.

If you’re going to say I wasn’t a part of it, you have to make a stronger statement: I wasn’t a part of it, and there’s why I wasn’t a part of it, and here’s evidence that I didn’t participate in it, and here’s my commitment to the future. It’s not enough to say I didn’t agree because you’re part of this system and allowed this medical malpractice to happen over decades.

Gilger: That’s why the reconstruction trust process is difficult. I imagine Jerry Sheridan, especially with someone. Are you optimistic that he can comply with this court order, settle this and put the department out of this cloud as the former sheriff called it?

Piña: I think we can be careful and hopeful or careful optimistic about this. Everyone deserves the opportunity. I think he has him. It is recommended that new sheriffs surge in football in the end zone. He’s closer than he’s ever gone to compliance and maintain compliance. This is another important aspect of this order, but he spikes the football and lets the former sheriff know that he’s done it. He eliminated racial profiling. It’s great and I’ll be the first person to give him praise for it.

Gilger: Ask us what this looks like in our community. You have been the principal of Maryvale’s school for a long time, and you mentioned experiences you’ve heard from the kids there.

Is it true today that people in the Latino community in Maricopa County are hesitant to call the MCSO or suspect it?

Piña: I, I believe that is true. The fact is that families with mixed statuses are more vulnerable than me as they may have gone through a process of securing DACA documents and more.

I’m a Hispanic vehicle operator, but I also have a veteran plate. I live in the suburbs. I have an incredible privilege in my role as an educator. So my traffic stops will probably be visible in different circumstances unless I’m traveling with someone.

So I think we should be sensitive to the people that have been affected the most. It’s not enough to say you met the consulate. I met the charity CEO. I waved this hand and kissed the baby. It’s not enough to do those things. We have to listen to the people who have been affected the most. My experience was listening to some of them, conversations and meetings. There is a lot of fear.

Gilger: What influence did former sheriff, Sheriff Paul Penzo, have had on the progress of this court case, at least from your perspective? Similarly, he left the office. I spend more time investigating my sheriff than we are investigating crime in our community.

Piña: It’s a shame he abandoned his post and left without watching this until the end. He had a bit left to continue his progress towards reform, but he didn’t do that. That’s his choice. You need to live with it.

What they did when Penzone was there, they started moving towards compliance. Some of it was low fruit, some of which were what we call paper compliance. They began developing a training manual. They began developing data collection systems and more.

The challenge lies in the interaction of traffic stops, right? They still remained throughout the era of Penzone’s leadership, as it was racially, racially profiling was still reported. Unfortunately he left.

And praise for the sheriff [Russ] Skinner while he was there. He was also very involved in advances under the Penn Zone, not only was he provisional. He was in the trench. He was helping to move the process forward.

So I think important people have brought us closer to compliance. I think we are closer than ever. So we have the opportunity to see it.