opinion

Montini: A rogue police agency not run by Joe Arpaio?

What if there was a rogue law enforcement operation in Arizona that was not run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

What if the accusations of profiling and civil rights violations against that agency were as bad or worse than the accusations against Arpaio’s deputies: Things like using false alerts by drug-sniffing dogs to search and detain people, destroying personal property, stopping vehicles for no reason and threatening those who try to video-record encounters.

“Actually, that’s all happening, and more,” said James Lyall, a Tucson attorney for the ACLU of Arizona. “Only while Arpaio is in federal court facing some serious charges, this agency is operating essentially with impunity.”

Why?

Because we’re scared.

The agency we're talking about is the U.S. Border Patrol.

“The parallels between what Arpaio did and what the Border Patrol has been doing are really striking to me,” Lyall said. “And I believe the report we’ve done shows that.”

The report he’s talking about was based on records the ACLU received after filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. According to an ACLU press release, “The report reveals a systemic lack of oversight and accountability for agents who violate motorists’ civil and constitutional rights on a dramatic scale.”

The Arizona Republic’s Bob Ortega has covered this story, or tried to.

As Ortega pointed out in previous articles, and the report supports, the Border Patrol does not record stops involving motorists that do not result in arrest, which would include things like false canine alerts that lead to searches of innocent suspects.

Because of that, investigations into civil rights violations are rare.

Rep . Raúl Grijalva has expressed concern over the problem. He said, “We get calls from the Arivaca area, from the Santa Cruz area, from South Tucson, almost all of them from American citizens who’ve been stopped and they want to make a complaint.”

When the ACLU’s lawsuit was filed Customs and Border Protection officials released a statement saying, “CBP does not tolerate racial profiling or agent misconduct and appropriately investigates allegations of wrongdoing.”

But do they?

And why should they?

There doesn’t appear to be anyone looking over the Border Patrols’ shoulders.

“I anticipate there will be more lawsuits against the Border Patrol that are similar to those against Sheriff Arpaio,” the ACLU’s Lyall told me. “But it shouldn’t take that kind of action. There has been very little willingness on the part of Congress or the administration to provide the kind of oversight that’s needed with the Border Patrol.”

It’s because voters are still afraid. We’re willing for the rights of others to be violated because we think it might protect us.

And our elected officials also are afraid, but for a different reason. Politicians are terrified of being labeled as soft of immigration and border issues.

So, for now, the Border Patrol (unlike Arpaio) has free reign.

University of Arizona Law Professor and ACLU co-plaintiff Jane Bambauer, a co-author for the ACLU report, said, “This is unfortunately what happens when you allow an agency like the Border Patrol to operate in secret, with no effective oversight or any consequences for agents who cross the line. These records describe numerous, serious civil rights abuses that should have been investigated and were not.”