(Associated Press) A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the appointment of an independent monitor and a community advisory board to ensure that an Arizona sheriff is complying with constitutional requirements after finding his office engages in racial profiling.
U.S. District Judge Murray Snow found in May that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Joe Arpaio singled out Latinos and deputies unreasonably prolonged detentions.
It was the first finding by a court that the agency covering Arizona’s most populous county engages in racial profiling after a small group of Latinos sued the sheriff’s office for violating their constitutional rights, saying they were being detained simply because of their race.
