- Archives

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, in a deal with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, agreed Thursday to have deputies offer an extra advisory to motorists as part of a controversial thumbprint program. Arpaio said that, under the deal, motorists pulled over for a traffic stop not only will be told the program is voluntary but also there will be "no consequence" for refusing to volunteer a thumbprint. In a crackdown on identify theft, Arpaio announced Feb. 3 that prints would be sought from motorists stopped in the southwest Valley. He said the program eventually may expand to the entire county. Eleanor Eisenberg, the Arizona ACLU executive director, said she appreciates Arpaio's concession, but the ACLU still opposes the program. Arpaio said 105 people have been stopped and 11 refused to offer thumbprints, a 90 percent success rate. [more]