Police in Limbo After Money, Time Spent on SB 1070 Enforcement Training

East Valley Tribune: Law enforcement officers are ready to enforce SB 1070 — if they have to enforce it at all. After thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent on training materials for officers and hundreds of hours went toward enforcement training, agencies now are waiting for the courts to decide whether the law is constitutional. After Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the controversial immigration bill into law, a year ago Saturday, she ordered the Arizona Peace Officers Standard and Training Board to create a training program and guidelines for enforcing it. AZPOST had its work finished by the May 21 deadline, but later shut down the process as the law was fine-tuned. And although individual police departments throughout the state, including those in the East Valley, spent more than AZPOST did to train officers, the board’s executive director said he believes the training was done efficiently and prepared officers to effectively enforce the law. AZPOST spent slightly more than $26,000 to implement enforcement training for the law — or $3.75 per officer, Lyle Mann said. “We did what we were tasked to do, and I believe we did it well,” he said. “When the court makes its decision, we’ll ensure that the officers are prepared to do what they’re supposed to do or allowed to do.