Top Valley official expresses hope that judicial oversight of MCSO will end soon

PHOENIX – A top Maricopa County official said he’s hopeful that costly judicial oversight of the Valley sheriff’s department won’t go on much longer.

“Definitely hope on my part, and definitely diligence on the part of the Board of Supervisors that we’re not going to let this go,” Supervisor Thomas Galvin, the board’s chair, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday.

“We’re going to fight on behalf of taxpayers, but also on behalf of the employees and the deputies and detention officers at the sheriff’s office.”

Galvin said the county is working closely with a top constitutional lawyer to find a legal way out.

“I’m going to say stay tuned, but we’re looking at legal paths that we can unwind this or figure a way out of it,” he said.

Can Trump administration end judicial oversight of MCSO?

Galvin said the Trump administration can’t end judicial oversight of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office the way it called the dogs off the Phoenix Police Department.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that its Civil Rights Division is retracting its findings and closing its investigations into six police departments, including Phoenix, that were launched under the Biden administration.

The threat of a consent decree had been hanging over the heads of Phoenix officials since the DOJ released a report last year detailing patterns of civil rights violations by the police department.

Galvin said judicial oversight like MCSO faces is covered by a different article of the Constitution than something like a consent decree originating from the executive branch.

“The Department of Justice under the previous administration had been investigating the Phoenix Police Department and other police agencies around the country, and what was expected was that they’re going to force these guys, saying, ‘Hey, do you want to go through expensive litigation or have us come after you? Just sign a form, a consent, in which we will control your police agency,” he said.

Why is MCSO under judicial oversight?

In MCSO’s case, the oversight is the result of the verdict in a racial profiling lawsuit dating back to when Joe Arpaio was in office.

“A federal judge has had control and oversight over the sheriff’s office over the last 15 years, and it’s been the same judge,” Galvin said.

Judicial oversight comes with a variety of compliance-related expenses and creates extra work for deputies.

“This has cost Maricopa County taxpayers … $352 million over the last 15 years, and the board just had to approve $34 million over the next year,” Galvin said. “I think these resources could be better deployed if we’re able to put our sheriff’s deputies back on the street instead of sitting at desks filling out paperwork.”

While the Trump administration can’t wave away the oversight like it did with the Phoenix Police probe, Galvin would like the DOJ to put in a good word on MCSO’s behalf.

“What I would like to see is an expression of support from D.C. for the vast reforms, the vast improvement and progress made at the sheriff’s office over the last 15 years,” he said.

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