Arpaio to send officers to protect black churches Sunday
Jun 20, 2015, 8:52 AM | Updated: 8:52 am
PHOENIX — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans to send officers and volunteer posse members to 60 churches with African-American congregations Sunday in response to a shooting at a historic black church in South Carolina where nine people were killed.
The sheriff said Thursday that he agreed to provide protection at the churches at the request of the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, who explained that he’s concerned about white supremacists trampling on the civil rights of black people within the county.
Arpaio’s plan comes as the sheriff is facing the toughest legal battles in his 22-year tenure. The sheriff’s office remains under the supervision of a federal judge who concluded two years ago that the agency had systemically racially profiled Latinos in its regular traffic and immigration patrols.
He’s also scheduled to go to trial in August in a separate lawsuit that accuses his office of punishing Latino jail inmates with limited English skills for speaking Spanish and discriminating against Latinos in business raids aimed at cracking down on identity theft.
Arpaio, who vigorously denies the civil rights allegations in both cases, said providing protection at the churches is part of his duties as the county’s top law enforcer.
“This is very important to me, and I’m going to do it,” Arpaio said. “I am the elected sheriff of this county.”
Maupin said he wasn’t aware of any specific threats against churches within the county, but he added that places of worship with black congregations often get hate mail. Still, Maupin said he’s concerned that the South Carolina shooting might prompt white supremacists to come forward to harm black people.
More than two years ago, Arpaio sent hundreds of posse volunteers to provide security just outside school grounds in the wake of a shooting that left 26 people dead at a Connecticut elementary school.
Maupin said the controversy over Arpaio’s now-shuttered immigration enforcement crackdowns is irrelevant to the issue of protecting the churches from white supremacists.
“Love us or hate us, we are here to make sure people can worship freely and safely,” Maupin said.
