It’s official: Jodi Arias is guilty of 1st Degree Murder in the death of Travis Alexander.

‘Had I known about the crime problems around Arizona State University I would have never let Kyleigh move to Tempe.” Those are the words of Karen Montenegro, the mother of murdered ASU student Kyleigh Sousa.

It was no surprise a 20-year-old man was arrested over the weekend for stabbing another man at the Country Thunder music festival in Pinal County. News reports tell of an argument escalating into violence. I’d bet excessive and criminal alcohol consumption played a part in this crime.

The burns on the 17-year-old girl’s legs will scar her forever.

I find it interesting the number of Arizona folks who are captivated and fascinated with sex crimes. It’s like they can’t get enough of it. I hear constant talk about the media-created, soap-opera-like atmosphere surrounding the Jodi Arias murder trial. People are fascinated with the sex talk and titillating tales of what Arias and Travis Alexander did before she admittedly murdered him.

If you’re a commuter who endured one of the four recent massive traffic back-ups on Valley freeways thanks to serious accidents involving big rig trucks, no doubt you spoke words you’d never say in front of your kids.

Joe Arpaio is the best sheriff ever in the history of Maricopa County! No, he’s the worst Maricopa County sheriff ever!

“There ain’t nothin’ more powerful than the odor of mendacity!”

With the opening of the state legislative session, school safety soon took center stage.

How would you like to buy a gun that killed an Arizona police officer?

Just before Christmas we had a guest in our home. A young man who is a U. S. Army staff sergeant, a soldier, an infantryman who has led men in combat on the fields of battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was passing through on his way to his latest tour of duty in Afghanistan where people want to kill him. He’s been to war a half-dozen times now since he enlisted a dozen years ago after graduating from high school. Going to war has been his adult life.

The jury was out just 40 minutes before it came back with guilty verdicts against Joseluis Marquez for murdering Arizona State University student Kyleigh Sousa during a 2010 robbery in the downtown Tempe area as she walked across the street from a police station.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio won again.

The word rape strikes terror in the hearts of women who are most often the targets of a rapist. Rape, often called sexual assault, is one of the vilest crimes that can be committed. It’s a crime I found in my career that can be uglier than a murder and often more difficult to investigate and solve.

More bad news about the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Ex-Tempe City Council member Ben Arredondo is nothing more than a crooked politician who took advantage of his position of power for personal gain.

This week marks the beginning of the trial for Joseluis Marquez who is charged with the May 26, 2010 robbery and murder of Arizona State University student Kyleigh Sousa in downtown Tempe. Her brazen murder took place across the street from a police station and was the first of three student murders in and around Tempe’s downtown that year.

Duty, honor, country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. -- General Douglas MacArthur, Thayer Award Speech, 1962

On Jan. 28, 2012, Scottsdale Police Lt. Ron Bayne shot and killed Jason Prostollo. Prostollo was highly intoxicated, reportedly five times the legal limit to drive, and had a piece of broken pool cue in each hand as he walked towards Bayne and other officers, including a K-9. According to news reports, Bayne fired two shots into Prostollo, one of which hit the K-9 that was attacking Prostollo.

Imagine for a moment you’re a child. Your life isn’t normal. It’s controlled by fear and pain. It’s that way because you’re being raped by your 43-year-old uncle who lives in your home with you and your family.

Our officers have been at the forefront of figuring out how to protect our city. When we have a safer community, we have a community that people want to invest in. This is real nuts-and-bolts police work that gets to the base cause of crime.” Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, Arizona Republic, “Mesa’s crime rate for major offenses is lower than in 1963, Mayor lauds preventive strategies by police,” Aug. 2, 2012

“We’ve cut off the head of the snake. This definitely makes it a lot harder for our children and residents to get drugs. We can go out all day and arrest people with marijuana or a sixteenth of an ounce of meth. Or we can go out and do an investigation like this for six months and affect thousands of people.” -- Tempe police Lt. Noah Johnson, East Valley Tribune story Tempe part of major drug bust connected to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, July 6, 2012

While both those who support and despise Senate Bill 1070 dance in the streets proclaiming victory after the June 25 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision on Arizona’s anti-immigration law, the revelers need to remember that there’s a whole lot of very serious felony crime occurring every day in Arizona and the vast majority of it never gets solved and has nothing to do with illegal immigration.

The recent deaths of Tempe’s Butwin family, found shot to death west of Casa Grande, is a tragedy.

Once more Tempe is catching front page headlines for crime.

On Nov. 7, 1974 Kelly Kardell and Jeffrey Schlosser, both 12 years old, were found shot at a Tempe apartment complex. The boys were found stripped naked and shot in the head, execution style. It was a crime that shocked Tempe and Arizona.

I want to thank David Gonzales, the U. S. Marshal for Arizona, for once again leading the effort to identify, locate and arrest wanted felons who have fled from justice. During the week of April 16, Gonzales and his deputies — with the cooperation of local police, the sheriff, state police and probation officers — led efforts to arrest more than 200 wanted felons.

Good and honest law enforcement is the cornerstone of a nation of laws. Unfortunately Arizona has serious problems in that regard when it comes to its elected and appointed law enforcement leadership.

The announcement this week that Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is under criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for reportedly “illegally collaborating with his campaign committee to raise campaign funds, promising a job to the leader of that committee and helping funnel money, an estimated half-million dollars, from his brother-in-law to the committee” is just the latest in a series of questionable acts involving Horne.

“These gangs are very, very dangerous. They are organized like a crime syndicate,” said Tempe City Mana ger Charlie Meyer (reported in the Arizona Republic, March 12).

We’re fortunate that no one was killed,” said Tempe Police Lt. Mike Horn, describing the mass shooting of 15 people at a Tempe nightclub by three suspected members of two rival street gangs, the Crips and Bloods.

The office of county sheriff in Arizona dates back to territorial days when the sheriff was the only law. When Arizona became a state 100 years ago the office of sheriff was spelled out in the state Constitution.

Tempe's about to elect a new mayor and three city council members. Early ballots go out next week. The primary election is March 13.

In a recent edition of the East Valley Tribune, there were two important stories about the future of public education in Tempe.

On Monday, Arizona State House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, announced the state Legislature was launching a probe of the federal gun smuggling operation known as "Fast and Furious."

If you're a Tempe taxpayer, you didn't want to read the headline from this week's Tribune: Tempe's next challenge: finding $36M to pay for lake's new dam.

The Sinaloa cartel — that’s the biggest and baddest of the drug cartels. It has tentacles nationwide but are deepest in Arizona. Those words were spoken by U.S. Drug Enforcement Acting Special Agent in Charge for Arizona Doug Coleman at a Dec. 19 news conference at the Tempe Police Department announcing a 15-month investigation resulting in 203 arrests and the seizure of $7.8 million in cash, 650 pounds of marijuana, 435 pounds of methamphetamine, 123 pounds of cocaine and 4.5 pounds of heroin.

“If there were any victims, I apologize to those victims.”  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Dec. 5 dismissive response to questions about his not investigating 432 sex crimes.

On Oct. 7 following the sixth and seventh murders of two small children who'd been on "the radar" of local police and Arizona Child Protective Services, Gov. Jan Brewer ordered the establishment of the Arizona Child Safety Task Force to examine the state's current policies and practices when it comes to protecting children.

Gone from the busy corners in Mesa and the East Valley are the illegal aliens who gathered looking for work. Also gone are the low-paid workers who found homes at restaurants, car washes and construction sites where business owners could pay cash and cheat the tax man thanks to Arizona’s failed statewide law enforcement system.

There are big problems in the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the state agency that, according to its mission statement, is supposed “to protect human life by enforcing state laws, deterring criminal activity and ensuring public safety.”

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson, guest commentary