The 2024 race for Maricopa County Sheriff will be a key race to watch, with Republican candidate Jerry Sheridan and Democrat Tyler Kamp (pictured above, left) emerging as the contenders.
Recently, the Melendres Compliance – a settlement to allow federal oversight of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) – has recommended new sanctions due to the ongoing failure to resolve a substantial backlog of misconduct complaints. These complaints primarily concern racial profiling and other civil rights violations. Despite years of oversight, the MCSO has not made adequate progress in addressing over 1,400 unresolved complaints. The oversight has cost Arizona taxpayers over $240 million dollars.
In a statement to The Arizona Sun Times, Sheridan (pictured above, right) addressed the complexities of federal court oversight on law enforcement agencies, particularly regarding internal investigations. “Federal court oversight is a complicated issue for any organization, especially a law enforcement agency. Internal investigations are necessary to ensure people are doing their jobs right, following policies, and not abusing people’s rights,” Sheridan remarked.
He highlighted the impact of delays in investigations on both officers’ mental health and public safety, emphasizing the need for timeliness. “Officers under investigation take it seriously; it affects their mental health and job functions. This is why internal investigations should be thorough yet timely. Any delay in the process has the potential to affect public safety by creating a distracted officer,” he stated.
Sheridan advocated for handling complaints at the lowest level of supervision possible, arguing that this approach would expedite the process and alleviate the significant backlog of cases. “Like many things in business and law enforcement agencies, complaints should be handled by the lowest level of supervision possible. Many complaints in my 40 years of experience can be handled in an informal manner by the first line supervisor, typically a sergeant. Those that cannot or are a serious policy violation must then be completed by internal investigations detectives.”
He further explained to The Sun Times, “Limiting cases investigated by IA detectives allows these often complicated investigations to be completed in a more expedient manner. This must be communicated with the court in order to resolve the issue of 1,300 backlogged cases. A backlog of this magnitude with many cases going on for years negatively affects morale, causes officers to quit, thereby causing a staff shortage greatly affecting the safety of the public,” Sheridan concluded.
Sheridan, spent 40-years in the MCSO and rose to the rank of Chief Deputy, and secured the nomination for Sheriff after a very competitive primary. He is running on a platform that emphasizes a focus on ending drug smuggling and rebuilding the department.
Kamp, recruited by the Maricopa County Democratic Party, recently defeated moderate interim Sheriff Russ Skinner in the primary. Kamp, a former officer with the Phoenix Police Department, pledges to build on the “success” of Democrat Sheriff Penzone. Kamp cites his work with nonprofits, and his goals are “restorative justice” and “collective responsible justice.”
Former Arizona National Committeeman and Turning Point USA Executive, Tyler Bowyer, pointed out that “Democrats are radical” with their selection of Kamp who Boyer claims supports opens borders.
The biggest story in Arizona not being covered by the media:
Democrats OUSTED moderate Sheriff Skinner opting for a candidate who supports open borders.
How do you work homicide and support the left’s outrageous open borders policies?
Kamp does! The Democrats are radical. pic.twitter.com/F3s9i8dqa4
— Tyler Bowyer (@tylerbowyer) August 3, 2024
Kamp was implicated in a “substantiated” sexual harassment case during his final year with the Phoenix Police Department. ABC15 “obtained the city investigation through a public records request.” They stated, “as part of the request, the city also provided documents that included a transcript of an interview with Kamp and screenshots from hundreds of text messages sent between him and the officer, who was in training and in his chain of command.” Kamp was found to have sexually harassed a rookie officer, but he defended the investigation and the “out-of-context” texts.
The Sun Times contacted Tyler Kamp for a comment and did not receive a response by press time.
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Christy Kelly is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Christy on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tyler Kamp” by Tyler Kamp and “Jerry Sheridan” is by Jerry Sheridan.
