Pinal County Sheriff’s Office Admits It Failed to Properly Comply with Arizona Public Records Law

Last month, American Oversight settled its public records lawsuit against Sheriff Mark Lamb and Pinal County, Ariz. The litigation served as an important affirmation of the right of Pinal County residents to hold their officials accountable, having revealed the office’s significant failures in responding to records requests.

American Oversight and co-counsel the ACLU of Arizona filed the lawsuit in May 2024 after the sheriff and county failed to produce any records in response to five requests submitted between October 2020 and June 2023. In court filings, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) admitted it had failed to properly respond to the requests, including by not beginning to search for requested electronic communications until after the lawsuit was filed. 

At the time of the lawsuit’s filing, Lamb, who lost to Kari Lake during the state’s Republican Senate primary this year and whose term as sheriff ends this month, had emerged as a key figure in the far-right “constitutional sheriffs” movement and its efforts to cast doubt on U.S. election integrity. 

American Oversight sought Lamb’s communications with prominent election-denial activists and organizations seeking to undermine public confidence in our democracy; documents related to Lamb’s attendance at a June 2022 rally put on by the extreme anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform; and records related to his involvement in the constitutional sheriffs movement, a fringe theory that holds that sheriffs have more law enforcement power in their home counties than any other government body or individual. 

Three of the five requests at issue in the lawsuit specifically sought Lamb’s electronic communications, including text messages. The PCSO began producing responsive records soon after the lawsuit was filed. American Oversight sought discovery into the causes of delay and the adequacy of PCSO’s  search for responsive records, leading the office to file affidavits in court in which it admitted that it had failed to promptly respond to American Oversight’s requests. Additionally, PCSO stated that “[h]istorical text message data” from two prior cell phones that the county had replaced in April 2024 “cannot be retrieved.”