Guadalupe needs to name a decider on police

Guadalupe needs to decide who will serve as its police force. But first, the town needs to settle which of its leaders gets to make that decision.

Guadalupe panel backs dropping sheriffs patrols

Guadalupe seeks law enforcement alternatives

Arpaio gives Guadalupe 180 days to break ties

Guadalupe’s Town Council had been scheduled to consider stripping Mayor Rebecca Jimenez and Vice Mayor Roy Perez of their titles during a meeting Wednesday night. The council narrowly voted to adjourn the meeting only moments after it began.

And Councilwoman Patricia Jimenez faces a recall election Sept. 2 that could remove her.

The political infighting comes at a sensitive time for Guadalupe, as the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office considers terminating its contract to protect the tiny town covering less than a square-mile sandwiched between Tempe and Phoenix.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio threatened to remove his patrols, which could happen in October, after the mayor accused his deputies of racial profiling during “crime suppression” sweeps through the town in early April. Arpaio has said he will pull out unless the town tells him it still wants coverage. If the town ends the contract, or if it does not reaffirm its support, Arpaio will move ahead with terminating the contract, which can be done by either party with 180 days notice, he has said.

The Guadalupe Public Safety Committee, which recommends re-establishing the town’s police department, said in a report released this week that it worries town leaders might mishandle the process to replace the sheriff’s patrols.

“Our big concern is that we just keep our eye on the ball in terms of the policing issue,” said Santino Bernasconi, a committee member, “and that we move forward to resolve it.”

The committee’s report was far more blunt: “It is paramount that the council chooses credible representatives to meet with these people. At present, because of what has transpired recently, our community is a laughing stock.”

Last week, a sheriff’s deputy ticketed Rebecca Jimenez for driving with a broken headlight and for failing to provide proof of insurance and registration. She accused the sheriff’s office of making the traffic stop in retaliation. The mayor could not be reached for comment Friday.

In its report, the committee asks that the council hire outside consultants to help replace the sheriff’s office, which has patrolled the town for two decades. The council should have more than just one member involved, Bernasconi added. Ideally, there would be three elected officials representing the town, he said.

Bernasconi said he hopes the council’s political divisions, which predate the sheriff’s sweeps, do not delay a decision on Guadalupe’s police protection.

“There’s always differences regardless of the community, whether it’s Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix,” he said.

However, those differences grew after deputies conducted sweeps, making dozens of traffic stops in Guadalupe for traffic violations and checking the occupants’ immigration status. Deputies arrested five illegal immigrants over two days.

Even without a contract, the sheriff’s office has jurisdiction throughout Maricopa County and can continue to conduct such operations in the town, as it has in Phoenix and Mesa.

Town Clerk Rosemary Arellano said Guadalupe’s public safety commission started considering alternatives a year ago in response to complaints over service.

Capt. Paul Chagolla, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said it was not aware that the town had done so.

“That’s not necessarily unusual,” Chagolla said. “If you contract with somebody, you want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.”

Guadalupe hired the sheriff’s office to patrol its streets in the early 1980s, after officer misconduct cases forced the town to shutter its police department, Arellano said.

The town’s administration has also struggled with stability.

Guadalupe has been without a permanent town manager for years, said Arellano, who is filling that job on an interim basis for the next couple of months.