Candidates make their case for Pima County’s top law enforcement jobs

In a packed room, a full slate of candidates vying for two of the county’s top positions — Pima County attorney and Pima County sheriff — answered questions during a forum Monday night.

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover once again fended off criticism from Democratic opponent Mike Jette, but the sharpest jabs were reserved for Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. He was broadsided almost immediately by Terry Frederick, who told the crowd of around 200 that the Sheriff’s Department has endured “five major incidents and counting” under Nanos’ leadership.

The League of Women Voters forum included Democratic and Republican hopefuls who have until the July
30 primary to convince voters who should move on to the general
election. Conover faces Jette in the election, and without a Republican in the
race, the July primary will effectively decide who holds the slot next
year. The race for the sheriff’s seat includes a fight between Nanos and Democratic opponent Sandy Rosenthal, and a three-way race among
Republicans Heather Lappin, Bill Phillips and Frederick to see who will be on the November ballot.

Frederick criticized Nanos for managing a “toxic department,” beginning with firing corrections officers who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Frederick also said Nanos took an appropriation of $1.8 million meant to hire 10 deputies to patrol the southwest part of the county, and instead built a substation in Vail. He also acccused a PCSD sergeant of attempting to cover up the sexual assault of a fellow deputy and noted the department faces a federal civil law suit from Robert Zuniga, a deputy who accused Nanos and others of racial discrimination, retaliation and First Amendment violations.

Frederick’s opening statement was cut short by the moderator and he was
admonished for making a personal attack, leading to complaints from a
few supporters.

Lappin, a current employee of PCSD, also dug into Nanos. During her closing statement, Lappin told the audience over the last three-and-half years, she’s witnessed injustice and faced retribution, and the “administration hates my guts.” 

‘Walk and chew gum at the same time’

Conover is seeking a second term after winning in 2020 on a platform of criminal justice reform, replacing Barbara LaWall, a Democrat who held the office for seven terms until she announced she was retiring.

As the sheriff candidates waited patiently, Conover said she halted seeking the death penalty in her office, calling the practice a “racist and failed policy.” She said she arrived at the office during the COVID-19 pandemic with a backlog of 140 homicide cases going back to 2017. Conover said she modernized the county attorney’s filing system and sought raises for the attorneys in her office.

In a previous debate, Jette sharply criticized Conover’s record, but here he held back and instead focused on how he would manage the office, pushing treatment for people from drug addiction while pursuing people who mule drugs across the Arizona-Mexico border.

He noted his 17 years experience, including his tenure as a federal prosecutor—handling “significantly large cases” against drug cartels. 

“So I’ve got the experience to hold them accountable because people deal with this poison need to be held accountable,” he said, however, for people who are addicted “treatment, treatment treatment.”

“If you move this poison, you’re gonna have consequences and you should because that poison destroys neighborhoods, that poison destroys businesses,” Jette said. “We deed to have someone in the office who had the experience to go after the drug dealer and also make sure that treatment is afforded to people who deserve it.” 

Both Conover and Jette agreed about the use of diversion and ending cash bail. When asked about Tucson’s “most pressing issue,” Conover said that came when she “discovered” the homicide backlog.

She said during a “nationwide violent crime spike,” her office found itself taking on “record-breaking homicides.”  During the period, homicide prosecutors went out “in the middle of the night, night after night. That took everything we had to get through that,” she said. In response, the office started running a homicide panel every Monday to create a “think tank of collaboration” to manage the issue. 

“And obviously that means we prioritize resources” toward violent crime and victim crime,” she said. “So when I tell you with with joy and with a lot of relief that we are 43 percent down from two years ago, it means we congratulate ourselves for like half a second and then we nimbly we move into the needs of the day.”

She said her office is shifting its efforts toward community, including property crime and theft.

Jette shot back that this was ultimately a small number of overall cases and meanwhile other cases, including burglaries, sexual assaults and domestic violence cases are “running amok.”

“You can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said. The biggest problem in the county, Jette said was leadership. “You hired defense attorneys; I am a prosecutor.”

“I am a just prosecutor, I have learned as I go, and I believe in diversion. I believe in holding people accountable when they commit a violent act on somebody. So we asked me what the biggest problem is, it’s leadership,” he said.

Nanos defends record

All four candidates challenging Nanos are former or current Pima County sheriff’s deputies, but only Lappin currently works for the department, as a correctional officer.

Conover left the forum before the PCSD portion of the discussion, telling the crowd as the county’s attorney she had to leave. Jette stayed seated and listened as Sandy Rosenthal began his pitch to become sheriff. Rosenthal and Nanos debated earlier this month in Green Valley, when he said he would not endorse Nanos if the incumbent wins the primary, and on Monday he reiterated his critiques. He also argued Pima County should seek to mitigate deaths at the jail by building a secure wing at Kino Hospital to treat inmates.

Philips worked as a law enforcement officer for 31 years, serving a myriad of roles at PCSD before he retired, including working as a detective and as a trainer at the academy.

Nanos called himself the “most experienced candidate,” noting his work as a law enforcement officer since 1976, including work in the executive leadership at PCSD.

Lappin said she worked for 19 years and served as a trainer at PCSD and worked with Arizona POST to train police officers around the state. Frederick began by hitting Nanos and was admonished by Dr. Cheree Meeks, president of NAACP Tucson who co-hosted the panel, for running over his time and engaging in “personal attacks.”

“This is to put your best foot forward, so we can see what you’re about,” said Yolanda Parker Rizzoli, the NAACP Tucson’s secretary.

The candidates showed their marked differences during the first question. When asked about how they would deal with racial and ethnic disparities, Frederick said as a deputy “always treated each person with respect.”

Lappin mentioned her efforts to train  deputies and said she introduced the concept of implicit bias to deputies under her tutelage.

“I did a class on implicit bias and I completely introduced the concept to our deputies. That was my idea. My lesson plan I brought that in,” she said. Lappin also said hosted an expert to teach deputies about racial issues in the community. 

“I will have seats at the table where people can tell me things that I probably don’t want to hear, but it will make Pima County better,” Lappin said.”And, I think that’s the most important thing we can do in leadership.”

Nanos said he has worked the the NAACP and has sought to eliminate cash bail, and he took credit for adding an expert to teach at the department, restarting an effort stalled by previous Sheriff Mark Napier ( Republican who unseated Nanos in the 2016 election).

Philips said he would add more deputies and send them to neighborhoods so they could get to know the people who lived there.

Rosenthal said during his career he wrote over 10,000 citations, and he made sure to people were “treated equally.”

“And as a U.S. Army veteran, we all bleed the same color—tt didn’t matter what your skin color was,” he said. “It was all about us together and that’s what I’ll continue with Sheriff’s Department. So, I don’t believe that we should be biased in any way. If you commit a crime, you get arrested, and then we work to deal with that situation.”

During a similar question, Lappin said she sought to promote more women, and noted as part of her research for her master’s degree, she found agencies need “quality women” in leadership positions to gain more women. 

“We have to get rid of our quantity-over-quality mentality. We have to raise our standards. People want to come to a department that has standards,” Lappin said.

Nanos said the department is close to the national average, but he has moved to hire more women and people of color. 

“We constantly watch those numbers and look at those numbers,” he said.

Frederick said the department staffing is down 30 percent. 

“The department is so toxic right now that people are leaving,” he said. “You take rid of that toxicity. People are going to want to come to the group come work for you because you’re going to respect them, you’re going to allow them to do their job without fear of retaliation.”

“By collaborating with current leaders and community leaders, we can
recruit not only females, but Hispanics, Asians, African Americans,” he
said.

‘A little vulnerable here’

During a question about dealing with fentanyl addiction, Lappin said her son struggles with substance abuse.

“Well, I’m gonna get a little vulnerable here and I’m gonna let you guys know that my son who struggles with substance abuse,” she said. She said when he was 15 years old, she called the police and had him arrested, and after multiple attempts at rehab, he has celebrated 14 months of sobriety.

“It’s so important that we provide opportunity after opportunity after opportunity,” she said, to avoid jail or prison and “get the help that they need.”

“If they aren’t committing violent crimes. Of course, that’s that’s the caveat, because I do believe in accountability,” she said.

The candidates all largely supported treatment programs.

Philips said it’s important to manage treatment programs, but also have “community involvement” by  asking business people to help to get people jobs for when they return from treatment programs to get their feet under them. 

“People make mistakes, unintentionally or intentionally,” said Frederick. “But yes, I would support a diversion program, and I will make sure they have the proper treatment, whether it’s getting counseling, whether it’s going through a institution that we can afford to build—everybody deserves a second chance.”

Rosethal noted the Pima County Attorney’s Office makes that decision. Earlier this year, the county’s Blue Ribbon Commission—created to analyze whether the Board of Supervisors should seek to build or renovate the Pima County Jail—estimated it would cost up to $858 million to build a new jail.

Rosethal said the county should take a quarter of that money and build a secure wing at Kino hospital for those with mental heath and substance abuse issues. As sheriff, he would also pursue “wrap-around services” to help people once they’re released from jail.

Like Lappin, Nanos also has a family member facing drug abuse. He said his niece got into methamphetamine at 14. Now, 41, she has three children and works as high school teacher because “she put in the work and the time and effort and had the support.”

“I’ll say this, at my jail right now over two thirds of those in my jail suffer from addiction, more than half on psychotropic meds,” he said.

Nanos also defend his decision to keep Jose Monreal on staff. Monreal, a Pima County corrections officer, allegedly shoplifted nearly two dozen times, failing to scan items at self-checkouts.

Conover defended her decision not to charge Monreal last month, arguing the CO stole $480 worth of food items and the felony level is $1,000.

“Our deputies are human,” Nanos said, and argued the case was “politicized.” He said he looked at Monreal’s record, and considered his family’s struggles and decided to keep him on staff.

Lappin criticized this choice.

“Public trust is a delicate thing and for a community to have trust in their departments they have to feel that they are legitimate,” Lappin said. She said breaking that trust tarnishes the badge, creating “a ripple effect through the community” and adding to a narrative against law enforcement.

As the candidates made their final arguments, Nanos said it was a “tough job.”

“But it’s a job that I wanted, because I believe that I could do it,” he said. He said his staff faced major challenges in early 2020—including COVID-19, five deaths in the jail, and decreasing staff. However, he put together new programs, and increased staff. “The other thing about politics, you come in here you can just say what you want, and make up whatever you like,” he said.

Lappin once again dug into Nanos, telling the audience she never thought she would run for sheriff. She said her goal was to get her master’s degree and teach and maybe become a police chief in a “town with a lake somewhere.”

“But I have never in my almost 20 years experienced what I’ve been experiencing the last three-and-a-half years now,” she said. “I’m not here to throw stones not at all, but I have witnessed injustice, I have witnessed retribution.”

She said she “wasn’t treated that badly” however, “I could not stand by and watch what I have watched.” 

“So I stood up I still work there, I still work there and the abuse that I’m taking at work is immense,” she told the crowd. She said she endured three internal affairs investigations and has been “yelled at” for having conversations with “upset people.”

“I stand up I work every single day knowing knowing that the administration hates my guts. I am not afraid and I’m standing up for what’s right and that is why I’m here,” she said. 

Frederick ended the forum by telling the audience he would create an Arizona ranchers posse to patrol the rural areas along the U.S.-Mexico border. He also said he was endorsed by Richard Mack at a conference in Las Vegas.

In recent years, some sheriffs lead by Mack have pushed a right-wing belief they are the ultimate defenders of the U.S. Constitution and its rights, despite the lack of law and history giving supporting this idea. 

Mack’s group, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, have argued sheriffs “have the responsibility to interpose – it’s the ‘doctrine of interposition’ – whenever anybody is trying to diminish or violate the individual rights of our counties,” wrote researchers Mirya Holman and Emily Farris.

Several of Arizona’s county sheriffs are at least partially aligned the group, and refused to enforce COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and pushed election-related conspiracies through 2022, the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting wrote.

Audience responds

Aaron Scott from Pillars and Bridges, a nonprofit focused on bridging communication between public officials and the community, said the forum was interesting but said he would have liked more focus on how the candidates intended to collaborate and reconnect with the public. 

“They talked about public trust and ways to work with grassroots organizations but we wanna hear more about how they’re gonna work with them,” said Scott. “What are they gonna do intentionally to reinstate public trust?” 

Crystal Benitez, whose 17 year-old son Isaac was killed following a hit-and-run by two other youth in last July, said she wanted to see Conover out of office.

Benitez said the two young men responsible for her son’s death were able to attain a plea bargain which reduced their sentence to probation with Conover’s office. She said Conover did not hold them accountable and was too lenient as the county attorney.