cover image America's Toughest Sheriff: How We Can Win the War Against Crime

America's Toughest Sheriff: How We Can Win the War Against Crime

Len Sherman, Sheriff Arpaio. Summit Publishing Group, $22.95 (284pp) ISBN 978-1-56530-202-0

After 32 years as a federal drug official, Arpaio was elected sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, an area as large as New Jersey. Confronted with a 10% budget cut and overcrowded jails, he houses prisoners in tents in the desert. Prohibitions are strict: no smoking, no coffee, no nudie magazines, no violent TV shows. There are educational opportunities, but only 30% of the inmates participate. Arpaio instituted chain gangs, composed of volunteers, to do clean-up work; he also organized a civilian corps to assist his department. The mass media have attacked Arpaio as a vestige of a bygone era, but his book, written with Sherman (The Good, Bad and the Famous), makes a strong case that he is a tough, not a cruel, cop. Photos not seen by PW. (Apr.)