Maricopa County sheriff: End of federal oversight is coming, staffing shortage could be solved soon

The Maricopa County sheriff says he believes federal oversight of his office will end soon and a staffing shortage is two years from being solved.

BY JEFF VINTON

Jul 24, 2025, 2:26 PM Updated: Jul 25, 2025, 12:53 pm

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PHOENIX — Federal oversight could soon come to an end for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).

It could also be fully staffed within two years, Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Thursday.

The department has been watched by a court-appointed monitor since 2013, as a result of a verdict in a racial profiling lawsuit that was filed in 2007, during the tenure of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Recently, the federal oversight has been called a waste of money by the chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and public meetings about the federal monitor have led Sheridan to believe that the oversight will soon come to an end.

“There absolutely is light at the end of the tunnel,” Sheridan said. “It was nice to see, for the first time in 11 years, people come and talk positively about MCSO and what the deputies are doing out there.”

Sheridan added that MCSO is 94% compliant with the rules set down by the monitor. The court order requires the office to be 93% compliant.

Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan was passing by and dropped into the show. Mike talked to him about federal oversight, funding and safety in the jails. @mcsoaz

WATCH the FULL SEGMENT on the @KTAR923 YouTube Page. pic.twitter.com/O61z3hR1tx

— The Mike Broomhead Show on KTAR News (@BroomheadShow) July 24, 2025

Sheriff Jerry Sheridan believes perception of MCSO is changing

The sheriff also believes that MCSO has faced a perception problem in recent years, as Sheridan said the public perceives the office as “tough on people” and “a racist organization.”

However, he believes people are changing their minds about MCSO, as he noticed on a recent tour at the Salt River.

“I would say 97% of the people out there, Hispanic, Latinos, Blacks, whites, everybody was happy to see us out there,” Sheridan said. “They know that we’re out there to keep them safe.”

Sheriff Jerry Sheridan: MCSO staffing shortage could be solved soon

He has also noticed a culture change within MCSO. Part of the reason was a raise deputies received when the county passed its budget in June.

This has made it easier for the office to hire new deputies.

“The reason I know this for sure is because our number one recruiters are employees,” Sheridan said. “And I can tell they’re happier now in their job, both detention, civilian and deputy sheriffs, because we have a problem now that we don’t have enough classroom space for all the people we’re hiring, and it’s a great problem.”

Even with the recent uptick in hiring, Sheridan still believes that MCSO is about 100 deputies short of being fully staffed, with the biggest areas of need being in the patrol and homicide units.

However, he does have a timeframe for when that problem will be solved.

“I think it’s going to take about two years,” Sheridan said.

The reason it will take that long is that it takes between two and three months to complete the hiring process for a new deputy. After that, it takes about a year before a deputy is out on patrol, Sheridan said.