Does Sheriff Joe's Posse Really ENHANCE Arizona's Image? (Phoenix, Maricopa: real estate, house)

[keninaz]

Regarding the OP's statement "with firearms".
This is AZ, if you can't deal with guns you have a problem.
You can purchase a handgun over the counter and leave with it.
You can carry in the open (holstered on your person in plain view) or concealed on your person without a permit.
There are more people carrying out there than you know.
If you can't deal with it move.
It has little to do with the posse.

[GreenNorthwestScott]

Originally Posted by keninaz

Regarding the OP's statement "with firearms".
This is AZ, if you can't deal with guns you have a problem.
You can purchase a handgun over the counter and leave with it.
You can carry in the open (holstered on your person in plain view) or concealed on your person without a permit.
There are more people carrying out there than you know.
If you can't deal with it move.
It has little to do with the posse.

I am fully aware of this state's "need" to carry guns. I'm not sure what everyone is compensating for but that can be another topic.
I just don't want to see an overweight gun toting gramps on horseback chasing down his perception of bad guys in a crowded mall parking lot. The guy I saw yesterday had to be helped up onto his horse and was looking more like a vigilante than a mall protector of it's patrons.
It is only a matter of time before some innocent is going to get shot by one of Joe's posse. Either at the mall or on one of his immigration purges.
JMO

[Ritchie_az]

Originally Posted by GreenNorthwestScott

It is only a matter of time before some innocent is going to get shot by one of Joe's posse. Either at the mall or on one of his immigration purges.
JMO

This shows just how little you know about the "Posse"....

[keninaz]

And how little they know about the lack of prosecution of any badged LEO within AZ on a good shoot.
And my point is that there are many that carry here that you are not even aware of. Someone is a lot more likely to be shot by a non affiliated LEO organization than someone with the posse.
Then again most people in AZ are fully aware that many carry and we don't have the crime that many states have, particularly in the less populated areas.
I don't know about the Phoenix area but until this state reverted to no license required to carry a weapon concealed last August there were several companies locally that made a pretty good living teaching the classes to get a CCW permit here in AZ.
I am sure now that the requirement to carry concealed is relaxed within the state they are not having as much business but the fact remains that some 100 or so people were being certified for CCW every month here in our smaller area. Of course that did not count the folks that just continued carrying concealed illegally after the law changed in 1994 or just carried openly.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by GreenNorthwestScott

I am fully aware of this state's "need" to carry guns. I'm not sure what everyone is compensating for but that can be another topic.
I just don't want to see an overweight gun toting gramps on horseback chasing down his perception of bad guys in a crowded mall parking lot. The guy I saw yesterday had to be helped up onto his horse and was looking more like a vigilante than a mall protector of it's patrons.
It is only a matter of time before some innocent is going to get shot by one of Joe's posse. Either at the mall or on one of his immigration purges.
JMO

Life is full of trade offs... my nieces love the mounted patrol horses

When all is said and done... the question to ask is if the Posse provides a valuable service to the community or not.

By definition, a vigilante is someone that operates outside the law...

Accidents do happen and sometimes they are tragic... last year a innocent transit rider was killed on New Year's Eve in San Francisco when a sworn law enforcement officer mistakenly pulled his service weapon instead of his taser.

I was brought up to respect law enforcement... yes sir, no sir and I understand sir...

[Ritchie_az]

Here's some information:
Maricopa County Sheriff's Posse
MCSO Sun City Posse
Comserv: MCSO Community Services Posse
Sun City West Sheriff's Posse*|*3O YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE RESIDENTS OF SUN CITY WEST!!
Joe Arpaio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to wikipedia (and the other websites), the Posse does:

• search and rescue
• emergency communications
• prisoner transport
• traffic control
• backup for sworn deputies
• office administrative duties
• Holiday Mall Patrol (which provides motorist assistance and security for shoppers during the holiday shopping season)
• deadbeat parent details targeting men and women with outstanding arrest warrants for failure to pay child support.
• Assisting in immigration sweeps.

"Though varied by skill set and interest," one of the site's say, "...Volunteers undergo extensive training and perform services ranging from traffic control, child fingerprinting, and graffiti prevention all the way to search and rescue, serving warrants, and transporting prisoners."

The Posse program has been around more than 50 years and was already in existance when Joe Arpaio became county Sheriff.

Seems like the county gets a lot of good service out of volunteers, allowing the department to do more with less.

I've been told, though I did not find verification on the websites, that the majority of Posse members are former or retired law enforcement officers. If that is true, they bring a wealth of experience to the county at a very small cost (nothing).

[henry1]

plus you have to go through training on your own dime and you can not carry a weapon in the posse intill you have reached the state requiements for a part time sheriff or officers to carry a weapon in the perfomce of your dutys as a posse member ..

i have been a posse member since i was in my early 20s and my two uncles where sheriffs on the Pima and Navajo county depts there before retireing ..i had to go on my days off from the military and get all the qualifications done on my own time and keep the qualification up to the sheriff standards even through i was not in the area ..

so a lot of my personal time when i was off was get the quals done and trying to find the time for the family and school at the same time..my wife and i where members of the horse posse for mall partol and search and rescue work when it was need ..

[Ritchie_az]

Thanks for your volunteer service, Henry!

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by GreenNorthwestScott

I don't think I have ever seen any posse "member" under the age of 40. No disrespect meant, but they all seem like wannabe police that could never make the grade and are now aged and out of shape but "with firearms". I know it's what gets ole Joe re-elected time after time from voters in all the retirement communities, but at what cost of future liability?
I was just watching the Phoenix ABC affliate and they were doing a live shot of the posse out at PV Mall. An older sorta overweight posse member had trouble mounting his horse and was helped up by two other posse folks. Does this really make you feel more secure as a shopper?
I see Metro Center opted out of the "coverage" this season that Sheriff Joe has provided in the past citing liability issues. Posse-ites say the property just changed hands to out of Arizona interests and the new ownership just doesn't understand the help the posse provides.
I think it's like a train wreck waiting to happen before one of these parking lot vigilantes seriously hurts someone or themselves by pure negligence.Then more bazillion dollar lawsuits against good ole Joe and the county.
Not enough savings in that green baloney or pink undies to offset what this guy has already cost taxpayers.
And sadly more to come.

I won't go as far as the West Valley View, which called them "Hitler Youth gone Geriatric" but they do stand for the image of grumpy old fascists that Sherriff Joe gives the country. I'm glad to be away from them

[Ritchie_az]

Did you read that, Henry? Apparently, according to Boompa, you're not quite a NAZI, but you "do stand for the image of grumpy old fascists".

Boompa, did you even think before you posted?