Jack Harris

PHOENIX - Today Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris announced that Phoenix PD will inquire about the immigration status off all suspects apprehended for criminal offenses or who are targets of criminal inquiries.

The policy change comes at the conclusion of a blue-ribbon study begun last year to look at how Phoenix police should handle immigration enforcement. The new policies include greater cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, city officials were quick to stress that police would not be involved in immigration "sweeps" such as have been conducted by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, and that neither those cited for violations nor witnesses to crimes would have their legal status scrutinized.

When Maricopa County Sheriff candidate Dan Saban submitted his qualifying signatures today, turning in over three times as many as he needed to get on the ballot, he did so without the backing of the Buckeye Police Association, which represents the officers of the police department he headed until a week ago.

Yet Saban doesn't believe BPA's endorsement of his rival, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, or for that matter the endorsement of Arpaio by the Phoenix Law Enforcement Agency, is that great a liability. For Saban, it’s a slew of other endorsements he's garnered that are far more important to his campaign, and he says he has the 8,000-plus signatures to prove it.