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Sheriff's office disputes claim of rising crime
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The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says violent crime has dropped significantly in its jurisdiction this year. The announcement came in response to a newspaper editorial by Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon in which he said crime rates in unincorporated parts of the county are "going up fast and fast becoming a crisis."
Sheriff's officials responded quickly, and angrily, with a press release that contends violent crime is down 10 percent from last year. The sheriff's office cited general statistics comparing the number of violent crimes that took place in the first seven months of this year with the same period from 2007, said Lisa Allen, the sheriff's media relations director.
"We know these numbers are accurate," Allen said.
The back-and-forth continued the months-long feud between Gordon and Sheriff Joe Arpaio over the sheriff's office illegal immigration enforcement practices. The politicians have regularly traded allegations related to racial profiling and outstanding felony warrants.
The recent exchange began with dueling editorials in The Arizona Republic on Thursday. Gordon contends Arpaio is sacrificing public safety for the sake of going after illegal immigrants. Arpaio focused his piece on Gordon's recent call for national media investigations into the sheriff's office, said the mayor was making "foolish statements" and that he was insulting the sheriff's office.
"I don't know where that man gets his information," Allen said of Gordon.
The mayor said he based his statement about crime rates on FBI statistics released every year in a report titled, "Crime in the United States." Between 2006 and 2007, the sheriff's office reported steep increases in homicide, robbery and aggravated assault, in particular; rape figures show a 57 percent drop in that period.
In 2008, the sheriff's office contends that - with all violent crimes counted together - violent crime numbers have been lower. Also, the sheriff's office said it received 27 percent fewer life-threatening emergency calls.
Gordon said he could not respond to the sheriff's statement, as the sheriff's office is the only agency with those figures at this time.
"I will rely on the FBI numbers, and not any other numbers, to judge," he said.
In fact, there is no way to independently verify the sheriff's office numbers. The county also does not audit or attempt to verify the statistics.
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