"either the Sheriff's office....would investigate."

Precisely.

And this is exactly why this law is considered a disaster by quite a few law enforcement professionals--despite any rabid supporters among the good citizens of Arizona.

The sheriff's office has enough to do already, thank you.

The sheriff of Pina County, which has a 123-mile border with Mexico, had a very interesting column in the Wall St Journal 5 May 2010 (yesterday).   "My deputies have referred more illegals to the Border Patrol and ICE than any other state or local law enforcement agency in Arizona."

And what does he think of this wonderful new "tool" for the police?

It's a total loser.

It puts his men in a no-win situation.

Reason:   either they anger a citizen or legal immigrant by asking to see papers or stand accused of non-feasance when they don't (ask).



It's also interesting that there were Hispanic groups favoring Republicans as recently as 2008. But now at least one which calls itself "Somos Republicans" is outraged at this obvious profiling of Hispanics.    How many votes for supporters of this law will come from this group in the fall?   Take a guess.

After all, anybody who doesn't think that Hispanic appearance will be a long step towards establishing "reasonable suspicion" should start thinking.

Especially since, as I pointed out earlier, if the policeman declines to act, he can now be sued by the stalwart citizen.