(For updated article, please click on "BREAKING, UPDATE: Posses Not Carrying Insurance On Vehicles Caused Grounding; County Trying To Help MCSO Find Insurance Company; Grounding NOT Prompted By Shot Posse Member")
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office states this afternoon that they have NOT "suspended any posse operations." However, they have apparently grounded "the use of Posse-owned vehicles."
MCSO recently told Arizona's Politics that "there are approximately 114 Posse-owned vehicle, which does not include the privately-owned vehicles that are used for Posse business."
The grounding came to light this weekend when the West Valley's Daily News-Sun reported that the Sun City West Posse operations had been "suspended." In response to an inquiry this afternoon, the MCSO sent Arizona's Politics a three sentence release saying there is not a suspension.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio told the Daily News-Sun on Saturday that he "plans to talk with county officials early in the week to get this resolved and doesn’t consider it “a story yet.” But, if nothing is resolved, then it will be “a big story,” the sheriff said."
At various points, the MCSO deems vehicles to be past their usable life, and recommends that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approve the sale of the vehicles to the Posses for $1. The Supervisors routinely approve these sales unanimously. (As an example, here is the sale of two MCSO vehicles to the controversial Cold Case Posse from 2008.
Besides the apparent questions about insurance on the vehicles in light of the New Year's Eve shooting of Posse member Phillip Grigg, there are questions regarding government plates being reported on some of the Posse-owned vehicles, the usage of county fuel resources, and the lack of any financial oversight of the various Posse groups.
The MCSO release states that "Sheriff Joe Arpaio expects the issue to be resolved quickly."
(For updated article, please click on "BREAKING, UPDATE: Posses Not Carrying Insurance On Vehicles Caused Grounding; County Trying To Help MCSO Find Insurance Company; Grounding NOT Prompted By Shot Posse Member")
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