During the tense hearing in Phoenix, U.S. District Judge Murray
Snow also threatened to personally attend training sessions for
deputies to ensure his order from last year is complied with at
Arpaio's Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Arpaio, a divisive figure in the national immigration debate who
bills himself as "America's toughest sheriff," was not present at
the hearing.
"I am not going to tolerate any slip-ups any more," Snow said on
Thursday.
The judge has called for an independent monitor to ensure Arpaio's
Sheriff's Office stops using race in making law enforcement
decisions, in a ruling that stems from a 2007 lawsuit questioning
whether police could target unauthorized immigrants without
profiling Hispanics who are U.S. citizens or legal residents.
At Thursday's hearing, Snow took Arpaio's chief deputy Dave Trombi
to task for mischaracterizing the judge's order at a March 15
community meeting, where Trombi told residents that the judge had
found deputies detained Latinos 14 seconds longer than other
drivers.
That was not in the judge's order.
Trombi, sitting in the witness stand, admitted during questioning by
the judge that he "ashamedly" had not reviewed the ruling at the
time of the meeting but has since done so.
Snow told lawyers for the sheriff's office he will take further
action if there are more wrongful actions by officials in the
office. "I am at the end of my rope," he said.
Tim Casey, the lead attorney for the sheriff's office, said the
agency would comply with the judge's order.
"The fact is it's the law," Casey said. "Come heck or high water we
will comply with it."
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Arpaio has denied that his deputies use racial profiling and his
sheriff's office is appealing Snow's findings.
Snow also ordered the sheriff's office to submit plans and a
timeline on who will train deputies to avoid future recurrences of
racial profiling and what would be covered in the training.
Snow said he had "zero confidence" the training would be adequate
and plans to show up unannounced at sheriff's office teaching
sessions. "I'm going to make sure there isn't any baloney going on,"
he said.
Last month, Snow warned Arpaio and another aide, Jerry Sheridan,
that he would not tolerate the type of behavior recorded in an
October briefing that saw Sheridan call the judge's court order
ludicrous and absurd.
(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Mohammad Zargham)
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