Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels has called out an Arizona Sonora News Service reporter and editor for sending out false information “unilaterally throughout the nation slandering” him and the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Dannels registered his complaint with the news organization and posted his concerns on Facebook. The Facebook post reads:
On Thursday February 9, 2017, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels and his command staff travelled to Nogales Arizona to meet with National Homeland Security Secretary Kelly. According to the Sheriff’s Office Facebook post, the “meeting was informative for all who were in attendance and Sheriff Dannels was honored to have had the opportunity.”
Immediately after the meeting, several news organizations reached out to Sheriff Dannels for comment about the changes forthcoming in the National Security arena, specifically as they relate to the Southwest border.
Sheriff Dannels met in person with some news outlets as well as telephonically with others, to include Christianna Silva of the Arizona Sonora News Service. During the one minute telephone conversation between Sheriff Dannels and Silva, the following quote was made (as acknowledged by Az Son News Svc):
“Dannels said Cochise County pursues all lawbreakers equally.
“We’re not going to just target the illegals,” Dannels said. “Those [who] break the state law, we will charge them. Whether they are legally or illegally here.” “
Upon further reading the article however, the following statement was also attributed to Sheriff Dannels:
“The Phoenix, Tucson and Nogales police departments, and Yuma, Santa Cruz and Maricopa sheriffs say officers will not target long-term undocumented immigrants who have no violent felony offenses. Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels said his officers would target all long-term undocumented citizens — arrest record or not.”
Sheriff Dannels is furious over the complete media sensationalism in this story as he never once discussed anything related to illegal immigration and/or long term undocumented immigrants with this reporter. The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Mark Dannels have not and will not target individuals regardless of citizenship as we are sworn to uphold the laws in our state for the safety and security of our citizens. We do not enforce federal immigration law, we enforce public safety.
Sheriff Dannels’ Calls to the Arizona Sonora News Service reporter and editor registered the complaint of false information being sent unilaterally throughout the nation slandering Sheriff Dannels and the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office met with a commitment for a retraction by the editor.
Sheriff Dannels continued by saying, “we care about people…all people. I do not have the authority to enforce federal law, we enforce state law. If someone is arrested and found to be in the United States illegally, they will be turned over to the appropriate authorities, but we will not “target” anyone.”