Attorney General pledges support for local border efforts

After meeting with the leaders of several local law enforcement agencies and city officials, Arizona’s top prosecutor has vowed to cooperate as much as possible to help mitigate border-related criminal activity in Cochise County. Chiefs of police from Sierra Vista, Douglas and Bisbee, along with Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, urged Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to leverage the resources of his office to help with the consequences of failed federal border efforts. Specifically, local law enforcement officials asked Brnovich help coalesce the state’s leadership to speak with one voice to call on federal officials to fix a broken system. “Our folks who live in the rural parts of the county, they’re usually armed, for their own security. There’s always someone at the house or ranch, because they’re afraid they’re going to be burglarized or victimized,” Dannels said, describing the impacts that failed border policy and resource allocation has had on Cochise County residents. “It’s a way of life now for us, and it shouldn’t be,” he said. While tons of drugs pass through the border into Cochise County, most of it does not stay here. Instead, stash houses hold the illicit goods until they can be transported farther north, said Sierra Vista Police Chief Tom Alinen. Interim chief of the Douglas Police Department, Lt. Kraig Fullen, described the city as a hub of human and drug smuggling, with perpetrators constantly finding new ways to skirt the law...more