Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office

Drivers on the 10 BEWARE!
My experience involves a very dangerous and unfair policing tactic that was used to ticket drivers.
My boyfriend and I were driving on the 10 in the right lane with traffic both in front and behind us, as well as to the left of us. There were two patrol cars on the side of the road with their emergency vehicle lights on. We were unable to move over to the left lane due to the traffic next to us and were pulled over.
We sat and waited for this officer to write us up for not switching to the left lane on a VERY busy and dangerously hot night, for what seemed like 45 minutes. The officer was not at all accommodating to the fact that there was clearly traffic which did not allow us to switch lanes. We were not speeding, both seat-​belted, car had no lights out, we had not broken the law. Maddening as well were not only the cars passing us from the RIGHT LANE but the cars speeding by so fast I felt at times we would get sucked onto the highway from the force. It was so hot that night that we both sweated through our shirts. Plus, it seemed like a coarse amount of time to have people wait on the side of a potentially hazardous fast-​moving roadway. It was late in the night on a holiday weekend. Seemed precarious and trivial.
After driving off, we saw two other separate officers pulled over with their emergency vehicle lights on in the emergency lane BY THEMSELVES (ie they were not assisting any other vehicles nor pulled over any other vehicles, they were simply alone in the emergency shoulder with their emergency lights on). It became very clear that this repugnant scheme was not just an off-​chance, bad luck encounter for us, but actually a ploy by this police team to ticket drivers. It was obvious that we were trapped into this fraudulent situation only to be left with a HUGE fine and driving school.
This is lawless, unprofessional and NOT going unnoticed. This is a shameful event that should be a singular anomaly, however, it clearly is not. The next time I drive down the 10 through Maricopa County, I expect to see diligent police officers doing their duty of protecting and serving, NOT playing part of duplicitous misconduct to innocent people.
*I have filed complaints to the AZ Dept of Public Safety as well as directly with Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. I’ll update this review if/​when I hear back from them.

Involved in a small accident. Had the pleasure of dealing with the Maricopa Sheriffs office. The deputy just told both of us drivers involved to exchange info. Then he gave us a card with his name and a report no (so I thought) Turns out the deputy did not even write a report. When I called 4 wks later, I was told there was no report only an event entry log. I was wondering why my insurance co said they had not received the report they requested. When I specifically asked the officer about the report at the accident scene, He just smiled and said, Just call the no on the card. Turns out, despite the other guy being wrong in hitting my car, My insurance co had no info to go on. Just a 2 liner from the deputy saying, a collesion had occurred. That’s piss poor and unacceptable. I had heard about the Maricopa county Sheriffs office not investigating hundreds of felonies in El Mirage. But I never had any idea the deputies are so poorly trained. They can do better than this. I got my car fixed. But since there is no evidence or rpt by the deputy, the claim had to go to arbitration with the other guys insurance co. All the deputy had to do was write a report. No investigation or anything was done. Never experienced law enforcement doing anything like this before.

Thank you to our law enforcement officers for keeping us safe. Luckily, I’ve never had a personal run-​in with the MCSO, but I appreciate everything they do. Enough can’t be said for the people who risk their lives every day to keep our families out of harm’s way. Keep up the good work!

Took a tour of Tent City Jail, and Sheriff Joe and his staff were fantastic!
His approach to crime and punishment is something we need back in Ohio. I write my local officials about opening tents and barracks for jails, and I get the same olé same olé… seems all they want to do is build $ 200M jails that only help out the major developers… see, county corruption back home has made it impossible to do anything good for the community, like Joe’s done here in Maricopa.
For county jail offenders, this truly is as good as it gets.

It’s long since been time that we get rid of this sheriff and get one who wants to talk about the specific details of his office’s criminal enforcement performance. The discussion about illegal immigration has gotten old, as has Sheriff Joe’s recurring abuse of power and harassment of other local leaders.

Don’t beleive the hype about illegal immigration. There needs to be a comprehensive solution to the problem. Most immigrants to the U.S. are hardworking and pay taxes (contrary to popular belief). The problem with Sherrif Joe is that he and his merry band of thugs are not trained to enforce immigration laws. Sherif Joe has implemented a policy of racial profiling and calls it immigration enforcement. It’s spin. He has done more harm to Maricopa county than any other politician and has cost the taxpayers millions of dollors in legal fees and settlements. It’s time for a change.