Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had provided police service to the city of El Mirage, Arizona for approximately 21/2 years during 2005 to 2007. The self-proclaimed America’s Toughest Sheriff received approximately $2.5 million from El Mirage in exchange for police protection for its residents. Then in late 2007 the city decided to re-organize its own police force. The contract with Sheriff Arpaio’s office was terminated and a new El Mirage Police Department was formed. Shortly thereafter, the investigative staff of the new El Mirage began examining the police reports written by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office during the time when they were in El Mirage. What they uncovered during their audit was unconscionable. Dozens of cases involving homicides, robberies, and sex crimes had been mishandled, neglected or simply ignored by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Most of the sex crimes involved small children. Some of the homicide cases had strong evidence and looked to be solvable but were just never completed. The author provides an inside look at the resulting scandal that rocked the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. An in-depth review of the crimes that were mishandled, what the victims endured and how the offenders were never brought to justice are all described in detail. The book includes police reports from 31 actual child sex-crime cases that were mishandled, neglected or never completed by the Special Victims Unit of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Each case includes a complete, real-life account of the crime as described by the victimized child or their parents. The specific details about the crimes are based on the actual police reports that were written by the first-responder police officers, deputies, detectives and supervisors. The information in the police reports is from first-hand accounts of victims, witnesses, parents, social workers, teachers and friends who gave their statements to the police officers or deputies when the crimes were first reported to authorities. But, If There Were Any Victims… is more than just an expose of poor police practices by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s organization. It also serves as an educational tool for parents and young people alike. In addition to the actual police reports, the author includes helpful advice about personal protection, crime prevention and the effects of victimization. A real life education comes from examining the 31 police reports included in the book. Through the personal experiences of the victims and their families, parents can gain insight on ways to prevent their own children from becoming victims of child predators. Teachers can use the experiences of the victims in this book as topics of classroom discussion about running away from home, the dangers of the Internet and other high risk activities. Counselors can glean valuable insight from the circumstances which led the children in these incidents to become victimized. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio received a flurry of negative national publicity when the mishandling of these cases was publicly exposed. On December 5, 2011 Sheriff Arpaio made a half-hearted apology to the victims of these crimes, but qualified his apology by questioning whether there really were any victims. Perhaps this book will help Sheriff Joe Arpaio answer his own question of If There Were Any Victims…
