The Task At Hand

We have seen an increase in law enforcement agents turn into blown out lobbyist lately. They find the opportunity to get in front of cameras instead of doing what they are supposed to be doing, like enforcing laws. 


We have seen Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik on several national news programs giving his opinion on what laws he should be and not be enforcing. But he is not alone. We don't have to go very far because in our very own backyard we have Sheriff Richard Wiles. He has decided to jump on the band wagon and become a full time(that's just me exaggerating) lobbyist against enforcing immigration law. Who would have thought that a law enforcement agent would be against enforcing the law. Go figure.

Wiles has denounced bills targeting illegal immigrants and has said that El Paso "manages to come out on top as the safest large city in the United States" crediting the trust law enforcement agents have built with the "the largely Mexican immigrant community". I guess the non-Mexican immigrant had no affect on the safety of this community. Isn't that some stuff. He must be too busy trying to be on the news that he hasn't been following it. El Paso has had more murders in one moth than it did in all of last years. What does that mean, that we should all run scared? Absolutely not. What that means is that our local elected officials need to stop blowing smoke up our rears by telling us we are the "Safest City". At best we might have been, even though I don't agree with how the numbers were reported, but we sure are not the safest now. Just face it, that distinction will not be coming our way this year. We were a one hit wonder.


Now I find it interesting that more people have not spoken out against Wiles' actions. Maybe because he has a lot of ties with other political figures. I guess I'm going to start making some of them mad. Personally I think he is out of line and should concentrate on doing his job enforcing laws and being the custodian of the county jail. Enforce laws and house people in jail. That's it. Oh wait, catch stray dogs as well. Where in his job description does it say to make up laws or influence the making of laws. NOWHERE!!! 


Let's put this into perspective. A judge is also an elected official. His job is to rule on cases basing his ruling on current laws. His job is not to legislate from the bench. So why does our Sheriff think he can legislate from the county jail? What gives him the right to pick and choose which laws he will uphold? Wiles' actions don't come without double talk. He goes around saying one thing and does another. I wrote about it before and actually called it the Wiles Hokey Pokey..........

You put your LEFT foot in,

You put your LEFT foot out,

You put your LEFT foot in

and you jerk us all around.

You do the Hokey Pokey

and you turn your answers all around,

that's what your all about!

Do the Hokey Pokey,

You tell the truth about him

And he'll stick you in the Pokie,

That's what he's all about!

(My jingle writing career never really took off, you can see why)


Wiles has been double talking to El Paso since I can remember. Unfortunately he is a very good speaker and people don't call him out on it. But I'm here now so let me show you some examples. If you go to the El Paso County Sheriff's Website you will see a picture of Wiles with the department's mission statement next to it.

• Our Mission
• The El Paso County Sheriff's Office, as part of, and empowered by the community, is committed to:
• - Protect lives, property, and the rights of people; 
  - Maintain order; 
  - Enforce the law impartially;
  - Provide quality police service in partnership with other members of the community
• To fulfill our mission, we will strive to attain the highest degree of ethical behavior and professional conduct at all times.

Did you catch the second to the last one? ENFORCE IMPARTIALLY. Picking and choosing what laws you enforce or who you enforce them on is not being impartial. Don't worry, give it a couple days and the website will be changed. It won't be the first time. I quoted and complained about another issue I had with the website and it was changed. That seems to be a whole lot easier than actually doing what the website says.

"As a law enforcement officer, I respect the laws of our country and the necessity for them to be followed to provide for an orderly and safe society." 

Wiles mad that statement in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee but continued with why it wasn't necessary for him to enforce immigration law. I really wish our elected officials would stick to the task at hand.  El Paso elected him, even though I urged people not too, as the county sheriff. If he wanted to make laws instead of enforcing laws then he should have run for a the state legislature. But until that happens he should get back to work on simply enforcing laws and stop worrying if his uniform makes him look 10 lbs heavier on television.