Paul Babeu:

Pinal County Sheriff

Interview by Bea Lueck, Elaine Earle, Doug Brown – Winter 2015

GC LIVING: Sheriff, thank you for being with us here today. Tell us a little bit more about you.

SHERIFF BABEU: North Adams, Massachusetts is my hometown, born and raised. And my family, actually the Italian side of my family, has come from North Adams for 7 generations. And now there’s an 8th generation there. So I still have family there. Mom and dad were proud parents of 11 children. I’m the 10th of the 11. And I often joked that it was the only time in my life when I was a perfect 10.

GC LIVING: You have an interesting and colorful past – 18 years old and elected as a City Councilman in North Adams. Why as an 18 year old did you choose to run for city council?

SHERIFF BABEU: My interest in government service and politics, giving back and finding that as an avenue to give back was inspired largely by my father. My Mom and Dad were so encouraging to me when I was a teen and it clearly helped shape my self image.

GC LIVING: Was he an elected official? Or he just had an interest in politics?

SHERIFF BABEU: He was what you’d identify as a gadfly, and somebody very passionate, who cared about a number of issues, and he was always involved.

North Adams is a small town of about 13-14 thousand residents. I remember as a teenager my dad would start initiative petitions for some community issue. I would be out collecting signatures with him at a supermarket or going door-to-door. That was what really got me interested and involved. I remember my dad speaking at local city council meetings and saying something that wasn’t popular. I remember, as a young boy, how some elected officials treated my father with disrespect. That left a mark on me to this day and I’ve always vowed to treat people with the utmost courtesy and respect even if they disagree with me or I disagree with them. Sometimes, in politics, for other elected officials there’s some conflict. Because, even though you have a disagreement with somebody, you should always treat them with courtesy and a measure of decorum.

I was inspired at a young age. Every day I would talk to my father after reading the local newspaper. That’s where I developed the passion for public affairs and community involvement.

I remember when I was 17 – the city council was giving themselves a raise. It was a small stipend, but they were going to double or triple their salary. I shared my shock with my father of that action. And I wanted to know, “How can they do this -when everybody else is going without raises? They’re public servants!” My dad said, “Well go and do something about it.” I looked at him, and he said, “Go down to the city council meeting and tell them you disagree with them.” I said, “OK, but on one condition; that you’re not there. I don’t want it to be said, my dad’s here pushing me into this.”

So I went down there, and I remember standing up when it was the opportunity to speak to that issue. My knees were shaking and I was quivering. My voice, no doubt, was quivering. I remember every council member looking at me, and some of them whispering to one another and kind of laughing at me. I was saying it was unfair that they were doing this and I disagreed with them. I also said that if they chose to proceed, I would start an initiative petition to stop them.

They proceeded, and the next thing I knew, that’s what I did. I went every day after school to the local supermarkets and stood at the exit. I would ask everybody that was coming out to sign the petition. And, in a matter of a few short weeks, I had a couple of thousand signatures of registered voters from the community.

GC LIVING: People who said no to the raise?

SHERIFF BABEU: People who said no. And they thought, “Wow, this isn’t a joke”… I made the front page of the newspaper. I wasn’t old enough to vote or to sign the petition myself, but I could gather their signatures. And, the council backed down just before we filed the petition and reduced the raise; I think it was a $300 raise. And that was seen as a victory.

GC LIVING: Why did you run for office?

SHERIFF BABEU: I’d met so many people in the community who said, “Hey, we like your involvement.” The next thing I knew I was running for city council. I ran and was elected. So, at 18 years old, I was the youngest official.

I did that, and later served a four-year term as county commissioner for Berkshire County, which is the same position as a county supervisor here. They were all part-time positions. It was like serving on a local advisory board here. I had a full-time job in addition to that, of course. So I saw that as a way to give back early on and I loved it, enjoyed it.

GC LIVING: So City Council, County Commissioner, then you ran for State Senate…

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes.

GC LIVING: And Mayor. But lost those races – what did you learn from all this?

SHERIFF BABEU: I remember my father saying, “You can do anything if you believe that you can do it. Never give up.” (Chuckle) persistence often times wins in the end. For me, I had significant hurdles because not only was I younger, but I was challenging establishment people who had more money and who, in many cases, were incumbents.

When I first ran for city council my entire senior class registered to vote, every single person. So every student graduated and registered to vote. We only had 102 in our class, but add all their parents and our teachers. Everyone thought, “How cool is this?”

Everybody became engaged, and out of 18 candidates we got more votes than every candidate. We beat the President of the city council because we got everybody involved in the effort.

Even losing for the State Senate, the State Treasurer and the Lieutenant Governor both offered me positions to work for them. They were going to run for Governor and wanted me to be a part of their team. I worked in State Government for a year before their campaign for Governor started, and then I was statewide field director. So I was engaged, involved and I thought, “Hey, maybe my future is not in serving in an elected office, but helping others who are serving in government.” And, that’s what I learned.

GC LIVING: And, in between time, you joined the National Guard.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes.

GC LIVING: Went from a private to major when you retired.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes.

GC LIVING: When I first met you in 2006, you were heading up Task Force Yuma.

SHERIFF BABEU: That’s right.

GC LIVING: You were either a captain or a major at that time. I don’t remember.

SHERIFF BABEU: A major at that point.

GC LIVING: How did that tie in with everything you were doing in life? What brought you from Massachusetts to the wilds of the Southwest and the border?

SHERIFF BABEU: My family. Mom and dad had retired, and they had an apartment in Ahwatukee. We never imagined they would leave Massachusetts, but one day they did.

I earned my Master’s in Public Administration, and when I did, I was thinking, what is the next chapter of my life, what do I want to do? I sincerely believed at that point I would pursue a career in City, Town or County Government, and work my way up through Manager with that Professional Degree.

I already had about 12 years in the Army National Guard. I had joined when I was in college. I went to Officer Candidate School. One of the best leadership programs our nation offers is military leadership training. I thought to myself as I graduated and was about to embark on another career, “I’ve always wanted to serve in Law Enforcement.” I started to look at warmer climates.

I looked at Federal Service, and I had an interview date for the FBI. Then I found out I could not maintain my service in the reserve component of the military if I was to be a Federal agent or Officer. So I looked at local Law Enforcement where you could be in the Reserves. I looked at Florida, Arizona, and California.

My parents had just moved to Arizona and I visited them. The first time I visited they were living in Ahwatukee and it was winter. I said, “My god, this is beautiful.” I thought, “Well what better place to serve than here. There are so many opportunities in every career field.”

I tested for Phoenix PD and Chandler PD. I passed both and was offered positions with both. Phoenix said, “We’re on a hiring freeze, but we want to offer you a position as soon as one becomes available.” But my first choice was Chandler. I went to the Academy. I remember my mother’s birthday, January 6, was the first day.

Around that time, my parents moved from Ahwatukee. My dad bought a house in what was called then Queen Creek and I had never been out there. This was before Thanksgiving of 2002 and I’m helping my parents move to their new home. I remember saying to my dad, “Dad, why are we moving way out here, when I was going to ALEA,” [editor’s note: the Arizona Law Enforcement Academy.] That was my first reaction about moving to San Tan Valley.

GC LIVING: Yes, you’ve just moved to nowhere!

SHERIFF BABEU: (Chuckle) So as things would have it, that’s how I came here, because of my mom and dad, wanting a career in Law Enforcement, and to pursue a dream of mine. I always had so many interests. I always loved and appreciated every job I’ve had, including my first job.

GC LIVING: OK, so now you’re a Chandler patrol officer, and receive two life-saving awards your first year?

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes. I think it was my first year. I came out of the academy and loved it. It’s difficult for some. I had already been through military training, basic training, advanced training, and officer school where, usually, only a third of those who enter graduate. It was very disciplined and, at the academy, I not only I enjoyed it, I threw myself into the learning, the law and all the different codes. I was proud that I came out number 1 in class, more importantly, that I was voted as the exemplary officer by my fellow officers.

Serving in Chandler, you got to select your beats even though you were new. I wanted the busiest beat in Chandler. I was able to choose “swings”, the busiest shift in downtown Chandler. Chandler’s a beautiful city and community, yet, certain parts of Chandler had a lot more issues.

We were constantly busy. I was highly motivated and would have 120 to 130 every week on our shift which is huge volume for a patrol officer, and a lot of pro-active policing. The life-saving medals were just in the course of our business.

We were trained in the basics of first aid and CPR so prior to fire coming on scene, we would take action as any citizen would expect. When running for sheriff, I was astounded that our deputies in Pinal County were not trained and certified in first aid or CPR.

GC LIVING: I remember when you implemented that right after taking office.

SHERIFF BABEU: Chandler was a great opportunity to serve and I loved my service as a patrol officer. I said to deputies I hired this week that I believe when I first became a cop that your personality can be expressed through your service. We are able to handle situations differently, and put our own fingerprints on each call.

I encouraged them to embrace who they are and how they interact with people and never fail to show courtesy, professionalism, compassion to those people. I said, “You may be the only official of the government people will ever need, and how do you want that interaction to be remembered?” One of my favorite calls I remember a single mother, just before Christmas, had called that somebody stole her money. It turned out, she came home, gone to sleep and left her purse in the living room on the couch. She had been paid in cash. She was a Hispanic mother and had 5 or 6 children living in a small house. The money was missing from her purse and she was crying hysterically because she didn’t have money to pay rent or buy Christmas gifts.

I remember we were able to achieve something positive and teach some lessons. I took extra time to interview her children and her children’s friends who were at the house. A boy living with his grandparents had come over and he stole the money. I talked to the boy and the grandparents the same day and the grandparents were adamant their grandson had not stolen the money. I asked to speak to the boy privately. I explained how important this was to the family.

I then told the victim it may be helpful if we could get the money back and not prosecute. We could teach him a lesson, and she agreed. I talked to him privately with the boy how she really needed the money, it was Christmas and all these other things and he gave up the money. That grandma was about to smack him around and I had to make her understand he made a mistake, and he had learned this lesson. The mother came out and I told her we got the money. She cried tears of joy, and that’s the kind of call I was able to have in the past. I think, as a public servant, you can go that extra mile. Your personality can come out and make a difference in somebody’s life.

GC LIVING: So how did you go from Chandler patrol officer to president of the Chandler Police Association to running for Pinal County Sherriff?

SHERIFF BABEU: Part of my personality is to be engaged and involved and, if I see something I care about, I can’t help but be involved, participate in the conversation and finding a solution. I’m competitive, though growing up mild-mannered and shy, that somehow, I transformed…

GC LIVING: You’ve outgrown shyness.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes (laughs). I transformed as a means to action, and even if I could never imagine becoming physical with anybody in a defensive, man handling, or fighting posture. Entering a potentially harmful, unknown situation or pursuit, as I had to as a patrol officer in Chandler on numerous occasions, I always believe that is my duty. I am righteous in my conduct that fear wasn’t an issue for me. It really wasn’t. I would become so focused on my duty that I could easily push people aside to get to a problem or take any needed action.

It’s the same personality traits that got me involved in labor relations for law enforcement and getting involved in training, equipment, and paying benefits for officers to help improve the Chandler police department. We had one of the first communities that embraced “meet and confer” to actively engage leadership or management with labor to improve operations and service to the public. During my time as president of the association we received a national award because I was involved and all my peers would say, “Hey, you need to do this. We want you to be our leader.” I served as president of the labor organization. I reached back to my experience and understanding of organizing and politics and how to influence people as well as my understanding of military organization.

A leadership trait is to seek and accept leadership opportunities. That’s a part of my DNA. So I did, first as a patrol officer and then during the time I was deployed to a tour in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, then back to the U.S. where I served as commanding officer for Operation Jump Start for Task Force Yuma. That’s where I met you in 2006.

Cheryl Chase was running for state senator at that time, and I was getting involved helping her. She didn’t have a lot of people helping and then, all of a sudden, she was asking me to be her campaign manager. So I started to make the rounds, talking to people throughout Pinal County and the district she represented as a state legislator. I met Bob Ingulli who ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in 2006. He said, “Hey, you should run for sheriff. You could win this election.”

I had one bad experience with the Sheriff’s Office. The only time I had ever called the sheriff’s office as a resident of Pinal County, was because an impaired driver had hit my car in front of my house. So here I am, a cop – type A personality – new cop, probably at the most disciplined point in most cops’ career and somebody hit my car, right in front of my house at 2 o’clock in the morning. An older gentleman had hit my car and was trying to push his car out from under mine because he didn’t have reverse. Sure enough, he didn’t have insurance or a driver’s license. It had been revoked for DUI. I called the police to report the accident and a deputy younger than I showed up.

He’d been on the job less than two years. I gave him the identification card, not a driver’s license because it was revoked. I told him I was a police officer and gave him the information I had. He says, “OK, you can go back inside.” I go inside, next thing I see is another deputy sheriff’s car pulls up and they had the suspect get in the back seat of the car and the car takes off, all in about 15 minutes. No FST [Field Sobriety Test], no investigation whatsoever and I asked the deputy, “What’s going on here?” And he says, “Well I gave him a citation for suspended-revoked driver’s license and no insurance and an inoperable car.” They towed the car and that was it.

I was trying to understand how a young, brand new deputy could take this action. If someone did that in the city I worked in, they would have been fired for the same action. I was thinking, “My God, if I’m a cop and you gave that measure of service to me, what are the deputies doing for other citizens out there?”

GC LIVING: Okay. So now, you’re unhappy with the service you’re receiving as a citizen. You decide to run for Pinal County Sheriff.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes. I never intended, planned, or imagined I would ever run for public office again. I thought I would pursue a career, rise through the ranks in law enforcement and have a very successful career. Yet, the leadership opportunities, the challenges were so inviting. (laughs). That and I was starting to become active in Pinal County politics.

GC LIVING: So, you ran for sheriff…

SHERIFF BABEU: I ran for sheriff.

GC LIVING: And were elected as the first Republican elected in the history of Pinal County elections, a very heavily Democratic county.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes, and people said it couldn’t be done, there had never been a Republican elected, and you’re not from here and all these reasons why I could not get elected. “Hey, Paul, you’re a great guy, but you can’t do this… it’s impossible for you to win this election!”

I knew from my experience in serving and running for office, serving in office, running campaigns for other candidates, from experience and confidence in both military, civilian education, and law enforcement – I believed I would be a better candidate as Sheriff, as a leader, a manager, a planner, as somebody who had been trained professionally to manage.

GC LIVING: So, now, you’re using that Master’s degree in public administration.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes, absolutely. I actively sought mentors throughout my life, the people I saw were very successful and their leadership style. I would try to mirror how they handled situations and tried to make that a part of who I was. I believe, overall, though I’ve made mistakes, though we’ve had some hurdles, I believe we have dramatically improved operations, training and service for the residents of the county.

People would ask me, “Sheriff, why do you focus so much on the internal operations of training, equipment and discipline of the organization, when there are only 600 to 700 employees and 400-plus volunteers, when we have 420,000 residents?” My answer: How we maximize our ability to provide quality service is by focusing on our organization and how we can become more efficient in delivery of service. People, not only internally, see that I have skin in the game, that I care deeply and oftentimes, I’m criticized.

You may not have heard it, but internally it is said I micromanage in certain areas. And sometimes I do, I admit that. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. There’s been times I’ve had to rein in decision-making on certain areas, whether it be the budget, promotions, or decisions about movements or staffing because there’s other leaders who have to make decisions, and sometimes I go beyond and micromanage those things. I try not to, but you can’t afford not to at times.

GC LIVING: You have made several changes in the way the districts are set up…

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes.

GC LIVING: Let me step back a moment and put things in perspective. As sheriff, Pinal County is approximately 5500 square miles, slightly larger than Connecticut, population now 420,000. When first elected, it was about 280ish. You were in one of the most significant fiscal crunches any of us can remember, and your budget from the board of supervisors had just been slashed dramatically. And, by the way, we expected you to get this all done.

SHERIFF BABEU: Right. (Laughs)

GC LIVING: Did I miss anything? (Laughs)

SHERIFF BABEU: Even before this recent 5-million-dollar budget cut?

GC LIVING: Repeat that number.

SHERIFF BABEU: 5-million-dollar budget cut, and that is directly tied to the ICE [US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] contract so I get that. I understand it and there will be another cut.

Yet, prior to that, we have had 29 less fulltime staff members than when I was elected in 2008, yet, you mentioned those population figures. What’s different about us, as a county, not just our size and we’re growing fast, is that over half our population resides in unincorporated Pinal County. Most of the areas where the market growth is located are unincorporated areas.

GC LIVING: San Tan Valley – 80,000 people.

SHERIFF BABEU: 95,000 people… that’s where I live and the population isn’t about to stop. These are good problems to have, yet we have to properly manage, and this is all more important that our organization has to be a well-oiled, efficient machine in order to maintain service levels. You see stressors on our organization now, and I can speak to that a little bit farther, as things start to get better. Whatever money the board of supervisors appropriates, I will get the job done as best we can with the resources the county is able to afford.

An example: We have 214 sworn positions for just over half the population and that includes me. For the others – less than half the population in Pinal County – there’s 540 law enforcement officers for those municipalities and tribal reservations. So you start to understand that the problem is not just population. You pointed out the time and distance to get to a call and the areas of coverage.

It’s heightened even last year that the sheriff is coming and asking [the Board of Supervisors] for additional resources for the sheriff’s office. I’ve been criticized for that. I’m going to fight to provide the proper level of service for our community and people who are moving here. The majority of residents of Pinal County have moved here, like me, to make this their home. We’re accustomed to a certain measure of service, regardless whether we’re moving into an unincorporated area, municipality or not.

We’re different than Maricopa County, than Pima County, or most counties because they have a large majority of their population residing in incorporated areas. The significance of our sheriff’s office in Pinal County is magnified because of those points. I asked and the Board of Supervisors has communicated to me that as the economy improves, they will prioritize increased staffing for the sheriff’s office.

GC LIVING: There’s been a long-term contract with ICE, to utilize portions of the Pinal County Jail. That contract just went away.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes.

GC LIVING: And now your budget is reflected on that loss, which in turn, has caused some demotions, hiring freezes – even layoffs.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes. This contract was initiated in 2006, so this was three sheriffs ago. I believe they were headed in the right direction, making the right decisions at that time. We need additional space for our own prisoners in Pinal County and we need to build for additional needed capacity.

The idea by then Sheriff Roger Vanderpool was we can pay for this – almost like building a house and renting it out and having somebody else pay for it. The idea was to have this contract with ICE. At the time, the stated amount by the consultants was that we would need about $70 to $75 a day in order to make this profitable. The price they settled on was far less – $59.61. We’ve seen this current board has struggled with the number. Four of the five members were brand new when they were being briefed, and this issue could be a whole separate article, so maybe I shouldn’t focus on this issue.

GC LIVING: Just the overview because, at the end of the day, people are getting laid off …

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes.

GC LIVING: And people are getting pay cuts because their job descriptions are now changed.

SHERIFF BABEU: Correct. We now have 82 less employees than we did in May. We knew this would happen when the board of supervisors notified ICE that, if you’re not going to give us an increase in daily rate during this negotiation, we are going to terminate the contract and giving you 100-day notice.

When that happened, I took action the first week of May and froze hiring on my own. Through attrition, through retirements or people leaving, or termination, plus layoffs of probationary employees, to this day, we’ve been able to achieve 82 vacancies.

The executive summary by the consultant is due back in December and I believe we’re going to take additional action. The board’s first action was a 5 million dollar cut and they’re going to take an additional budget measure to cut it again. The sad point is I believe us, as a county, specifically the Board of Supervisors, made a decision because we were in a bad situation, which everybody understands. We were subsidizing the true cost of each ICE detainee in our jail, yet we always produced anywhere from 8 million to 11 million dollars in revenue each year.

Now, that revenue stream is gone, and the county will not be able to cut that same amount of money from the jail budget. It isn’t as simple as it sounds. In order to maintain operations, we have to maintain security post in these pods. We have to run the laundry facility, infirmary, education center, transportation, intake, release, medical appointments…

GC LIVING: Just keeping the utilities on.

SHERIFF BABEU: Right and to do all those things costs money. I believe the board and the managers believed that if you’re going to eliminate 11 million dollars in revenue, which is the number they keep stating, somehow we’ll be able to cut 11 million dollars from the sheriff’s jail budget and that’s not going to happen.

I’ll give you a sneak peek. Their deepest cut is not 11-million dollars. There are four options given, the lowest being approximately 5.8 million up to as high as 8 million. Once they make this final cut, according to the consultant they hired, they can’t exceed that. Otherwise, we’ll have some face-to-face discussion, possibly in court.

Because, even the outside independent consultant they hired is saying you cannot reduce staffing below this level, otherwise you compromise safety and security of the facility, and it could pose a threat and concern, not only to inmates, but also to staff. So the county could potentially be losing an additional 2 or 3 or 4 million dollars because of this action and there’s no reverse on this decision.

GC LIVING: You count as one of your friends America’s Toughest Sheriff, Joe Arpaio. How did that happen along with a very telling investigation that was turned over to Pinal County to investigate Maricopa County?

SHERIFF BABEU: The one investigation, the only investigation that Sheriff Joe has in his history. He’s approaching 23 years as sheriff. The only investigation ever sent out from his office was the one he gave to me and to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. I believed it was based on a trust in our professional relationship, in our friendship and political alliance, yet, he misread me. That harmed our relationship on every level. I remember countless face-to-face discussions we had. When he first asked me to take this investigation, I was told by several elected sheriffs, “Paul, do not take this investigation.” I was called by Senator McCain, that same day. He said, “Paul, turn that investigation back over to Sheriff Joe,” because at that time he was a mentor, and a friend, and an ally. And he said, “There’s no way you can win with this issue,” because it was such a public issue and it was accusing his chief deputy of corruption, abuse of power, and criminal charges that were already under investigation. This was an administrative review internally. All my friends and allies said, “There’s no way you can come out of this gaining anything. You’re going to be hurt badly,” regardless what you do, because you’re seen as an ally of Sheriff Joe. You’re going to be painted as a guy who’s whitewashing this investigation. If it doesn’t throw him down a flight of stairs, and if it somehow makes him look bad you’re going down the stairs. Everybody believed there was no way I could win.

Sheriff Joe told me himself, “I want you to do a straight-up investigation. Whatever you find is what you find.” I personally involved myself in this investigation, the weeks of interviews, as well as our staff, and at significant cost. What ended up happening were such egregious violations of trust, abuse of power and authority, lawful authority were exposed that I recommended to the sheriff he terminate all three of those high ranking officials.

He didn’t like that, and told me so. I’ve never shared this with the media. We had an argument in his office. He already had positions lined up for each of these three. He was going to move them and keep their jobs in the Sheriff’s Office, but basically shuffle them around to some other place.

When I recommended he needed to fire them, that there was no other appropriate action, he said, “I’m the sheriff of this office, not you, and you are not going to tell me what to do here.” And I said, “Sheriff, this is bigger than you. This is bigger than Maricopa County. You’re the big sheriff in Arizona, but this threatens the perishable trust we hold with the public as law enforcement.”

He didn’t want to hear that, and I said, “You can do whatever you want because I’m just giving you advice. You asked me to give you the straight up on this investigation, and this is what it is. These people betrayed the trust you placed in them, and you should be madder than hell at the fact they abused that trust and the power that you had given them.”

I said, “I’m going to tell the media I’ve recommended you fire all three of these people.” And he said, “You would not do that.” And I said, “Yes, I am going to do that because I’m not going to compromise myself and my integrity for this investigation.” And through several other discussions, there was an evolution and he realized I wasn’t out to run his Sheriff’s Office.

I was giving him the facts and there was no other way he could have handled this in my belief. I promised him if he did the right thing, and took these actions, that absolutely I would defend him publicly. He was afraid and said, “People will believe I don’t know anything that’s happening in the Sheriff’s Office if all this stuff comes out,” because I was telling him things he never knew. I said, “The sign of a good leader, you have 3500 full time employees. I don’t know everything that goes on in my own Sheriff’s Office! But, when information is presented to you and you’re aware of it and you act, and admit that, that’s the sign of a good leader.” And I said, “I will defend you on this issue because you’ll take a lot of heat.” He agreed to that, and that’s exactly what I did. That earned me going from his number one favorite, where he called me his son, his good son on a TV show in Phoenix, to not being a friend in any regard, I guess.

GC LIVING: You haven’t won any friends with the Immigration Department either.

SHERIFF BABEU: No (laughs). No, I don’t think so. I think, in fact, a lot of Hispanics in our county are supportive, and I believe people throughout our state that are attentive to my vernacular on the immigration issue, say, a comparison with Sheriff Joe, they’re very different. Not just styles – but implementation.

We have focused in Pinal County on going after the actual smuggling and the drug cartels. We’ve done this with amazing success as a county, working with partners in law enforcement. I promised, when I ran in 2008, we would not go on farms, we would not go into government buildings, we would not do all these raids that Sheriff Joe has done. So it’s not like, I’m somehow mad at Sheriff Joe and I’m saying these things to criticize him. I said that when I first ran, and I’ve maintained my word and my promise. Sometimes, my views on the immigration issue and what we should do as a society about the 11 to 20 million illegals get confused with Sheriff Joe’s positions. I focus on border security and fighting the actual smuggling that goes on, because we are clearly the number one pass-through county for drugs and smuggling in the state. The history has usually shown we’re number one.

That’s changed recently and shifted to Texas, but I believe, because the border remains unsecured, those numbers will come back up in a significant fashion in the future when the U.S. economy improves.

GC LIVING: Have I missed anything that you would like to share with the readers? What direction is the Sheriff’s Department going in 2015 and beyond?

SHERIFF BABEU: Our Sheriff’s Office will continue to focus on training, on equipment, and on discipline internally to yield the best results for the actual service we provide to so many unincorporated areas. We are the only SWAT team, even for Casa Grande, for all the cities and towns that we partners with.

We’re the narcotics task force that deals with warrants and drug investigations for every community. We partner with all our local agencies, so it’s just not us as a sheriff’s office. Oftentimes, we are one of the leads, if not the lead partner, with the 13 law enforcement agencies in the county.

Many of the smaller agencies can’t afford detectives or motor officers with a heightened level of training and understanding of investigations for injuries, with accidents, injuries, or fatal wrecks, even identification technicians.

Oftentimes, we’re called to provide these additional services, so there are other stressors on the Sheriff’s Office with our reduced staff, and our commitment is to maintain the level of service, even though it’s becoming more and more stressed. We try to work with the Board of Supervisors to get to a point where we have more competitive pay for retention, and when our economy improves, to hire additional staff and important support staff so we can best prepare for the future.

I am running for reelection in 2016, to serve another four years. This is the critical time to shape our organization, to prepare for continued growth, and a brighter future for the county. I want to be a part of that. I’m honored to play a role in that discussion and that solution.

GC LIVING: Now you have recently been able to pick up a number of sworn officers from the exodus from Casa Grande.

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes. We hired, within the last six months, nine Casa Grande police officers, and when we had the issues with the ICE contract, my commitment to our jail staff is, anybody in our jail who would like to become a deputy will get priority.

The last two testing’s we had over the past four months was solely for jail staff, and we’ve hired about eight new jail staff deputies. I told other Casa Grande officers looking to come to the Sheriff’s Office, not for more money, but for opportunity. I think there were many issues for those Casa Grande police officers.

I also think there was change going on internally with new leadership which gave them pause to reassess their situation. I don’t think it was the main or the final trigger. It gave them the opportunity to think, “Where am I going? What opportunities do I have in an agency of 80 or less, or can I go to the Sheriff’s Office, still live in my same home, and test to become a canine handler?” because we have five of handlers. Or, “I can become a motor enforcement traffic officer.” We have close to ten. “I can become a detective.” We have over 30. “I can promote in a few years to sergeant.” We have over 30.

The opportunities for specialty assignments and promotion were far greater than could be provided, or offered, in Casa Grande. I think that they saw opportunity in their professional development. A sad thing for Casa Grande P.D. is we recruited some of their best officers.

GC LIVING: Would you as the head of a law enforcement agency be concerned watching officer after officer, sergeant, and higher command level individuals, leaving to the point that 20 to 25% of your sworn staff has left in a relatively short period of time? Would a light bulb go off to you and say, ‘I need to look at this situation?’

SHERIFF BABEU: Absolutely. I’ve seen it that way, and I … Absolutely. You know, we have had staff leave as well, and it had more to do with pay. Let’s speak to those nine Casa Grande officers we recruited. Two of them actually took a pay cut, and most of them, came in at a very similar salary. I think one or two got a slight raise. So it wasn’t about money. It was about other issues. It’s far more dramatic in a smaller agency. It is concerning, and should bring the focus of not just the police chief and leadership, but every elected official and community leader in Casa Grande.

GC LIVING: At the end of the day, the Sheriff’s Department benefitted.

SHERIFF BABEU: We did, and the fact is these officers, now deputies, remain in our county, and still provide law enforcement service right here in the Casa Grande area.

GC LIVING: Pinal County – is it still a major drug corridor?

SHERIFF BABEU: Yes, despite the efforts we’ve made. This is where I went to the state legislature back four years ago and asked for additional funding resources to fight the cartels and enforce the law. During a budget cut of one and one-half billion dollars, they gave us one and one-half million dollars…to great criticism. We bought our first helicopter. We’re a county larger than the state of Connecticut, yet there’s no air support for any agency. Now we have two helicopters fully operable and a backup helicopter in order, to support our patrol operations, for any local agency for search and rescue and drug cartels. Our sheriff’s office led this effort.

The largest drug bust in the history of Arizona occurred here in Pinal County – two to three billion dollars in one day. This investigation took eight months to develop. In one day, we arrested 76 members of the Sinaloa cartel. They were carrying 108 firearms, not just handguns like I have, but scoped rifles, AK47s. Two of these guns were traced back to Fast and Furious.

This happened two years ago, so it shows you that, hey, we’re the deputies that answer the 911 calls, yet we achieved something not only historic, but monumental impact against the cartels with the help of local agencies like Casa Grande PD and all our other local agencies that are part of the narcotics task force. A huge achievement from our standpoint, operationally!

Switching the subject back to measurement; because I can talk and represent the sheriff’s office as well, I’m a great advocate for the good work our men and women do, yet at the end of the day, its results. A great benchmark to measure our success in improved service is response time! When I was elected in 2008, the average emergency response time in Pinal County was about 15 minutes to get to an emergency call because our county’s so large and the staffing every sheriff has complained about.

We changed our fielding of resources, retaining 3 or 4 large districts where people were roaming. We broke it down initially into 27. It’s now 22 distinct geographic beats where every deputy is assigned a small geographic area for an entire year, not 3 or 4 months. A deputy gets to know the businesses, the neighborhoods, the schools, the frequent flyers, meaning the criminals. You have ownership – skin in the game. What happens is in your beat. You’re responsible, so there’s a sense of ownership and accountability that took place.

That started to transform the culture, and we’ve seen that 15 minutes has now shrunk to an average county-wide of 7 minutes, which still isn’t the ideal response time for a call, but that’s the average. In high population areas like Casa Grande and San Tan Valley our response time is the fastest in the valley.

We have a 3 to 3.5 minute emergency response time for a call, for a priority 1 call. Sometimes we clip and get there 2 for a priority one call. That beats Chandler, Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, Gilbert, right here in Pinal County. The average has been cut in half and, with less resources, service has improved.

Some people, mainly internally, complain I’m heavy-handed with discipline and I agree in some regards. Just this month, we’ve fired five employees for conduct.

I wanted to bring up the points about the significant drug bust, which is a proven result of our focus, and also response time – a measure of service. Some people never call 911, but if they do, in a car wreck for example, our response is far quicker than it ever was.

GC LIVING: Thank you, Sheriff.

SHERIFF BABEU: Absolutely. Thank you.