Hair on Fire

Host: Barbara, Co-Host: Randy Pullen
Guest: Sheriff Joe Arpaio is head of the nation’s third largest Sheriff’s Office.
After serving in the U.S. Army,and as a Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas, NV, police officer for almost five years, Arpaio went on to build a federal lawenforcement career and a reputation for fighting crime and drug trafficking around the world. He began his career as a federal narcotics agent, establishing a stellar record in infiltrating drug organizations from Turkey to the Middle East to Mexico, Central, and South America to cities around the U.S. His expertise and success led him to top management positions around the world with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He concluded his remarkable federal career as head of the DEA for Arizona. He has been reelected to an unprecedented five 4-year terms.Arpaio has between 7500 - 10,000 inmates in his jail system. In August, 1993, he started the nation’s largest Tent City for convicted inmates. Of equal success and notoriety are his chain gangs, which contribute thousands of dollars of free labor to the community. The male chain gang, and the world’s first-ever female and juvenile chain gangs, clean streets, paint over graffiti, and bury the indigent in the county cemetery. Also impressive are the Sheriff’s get tough policies. For example, he banned smoking, coffee, movies, ographic magazines, and unrestricted TV in all jails. He has the cheapest meals in the U.S. too. In addition to these tough measures, the Sheriff has launched rehabilitative programs like “Hard Knocks High,” the only accredited high school under a Sheriff in an American jail, and ALPHA, an anti-substance-abuse program that has greatly reduced recidivism.