Originally Posted by Guest

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a heroic icon in the law enforcement community.

Admittedly, he was involved in many controversial issues, and was probably often very much in the wrong, but his use of pink underwear, and later pink handcuffs and jump suits, for prisoners appealed to the peculiar sense of humor of seasoned cops.

Now, let me digress to my early days of associating with law enforcement officers while I was still in college. I rode along with city police, deputy sheriffs and highway patrol troopers.

This was the 1950s in a small middle-class college town. If we were to see a car load of Black, male teenagers running around town in a late model, expensive car, the car would be stopped to verify that the operator was legally in possession of the car. Usually, he was not.

Today, that is called "Profiling." Back then it was regarded as "Good Police Work."

It was alleged that Sheriff Arpaio's principal offense was "profiling" when his deputies concentrated on directing their investigative efforts at apparent Mexicans when seeking illegal aliens. Old line cops consider that good police work. After all, statistically speaking, illegal aliens entering the country through Arizona are most likely to be Mexicans.

Political correctness has already gone amok at the Transportation Security Agency where everyone gets the same rigorous pre-boarding search although statistically the hijackers and terrorists have all been young Muslim (mostly Arab) men. To single out apparent young Muslim Arab men for special searches would be the "offense" of (Gasp) Profiling.

One hopes that there will be a day when sanity returns, and good police work can continue.


Carl in Tampa

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