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Cochise County sheriff reports border-crime bookings, pursuit counts and $1.9 million state interdiction grant
Summary
Sheriff Mark Dannels told KWCD listeners that Cochise County recorded 1,286 bookings for border crimes in 2024, larger multi-year incarceration costs exceeding $14.4 million since 2022 and that the county was awarded $1.9 million from the governor's office to fund interdiction teams.
Sheriff Mark Dannels told listeners on the First Watch radio program that Cochise County booked 1,286 people on border-related crimes in 2024 and that the county has seen 4,170 total bookings for border crimes since 2022.
"We booked 1,286 people in jail," Sheriff Mark Dannels said, adding that the county recorded 564 drivers booked in pursuit-related arrests and that the county's incarceration costs for border crimes were about $4,100,000 for 2024. "The total cost last 3 years is a little bit of 14,400,000 plus in incarceration costs for border crimes," he said.
Dannels described several priorities he and other sheriffs are pressing at the state level, including requests to increase local law-enforcement funding related to smuggling and trafficking, establishing retirement benefits for detention and correctional officers, and seeking pay parity to improve recruitment and retention. He said those priorities were part of conversations with state leaders during recent meetings in Phoenix.
Dannels also referenced a law that took effect Sept. 28, 2022, characterizing prosecutions under that statute as part of the county's enforcement work. "The new law that went in effect September 28, 2022 which is the smuggle-for-profit law…822 people were booked," he said.
On funding, Dannels said Cochise County was notified that it would receive $1,900,000 from the governor's office to continue funding interdiction teams. "We were just notified that we received $1,900,000 from the governor's office to continue that funding," he said, and described the money as covering vehicles, personnel and related costs for specialized interdiction teams.
Dannels framed the statistics and funding in terms of public-safety impacts for rural counties. He also described an international meeting with law-enforcement leadership from Sonora, Mexico, saying the discussion focused on sharing intelligence and operations.
The figures and funding remarks were presented on the radio program by Sheriff Dannels; the sheriff did not cite written reports on air. He characterized the booked people as those arrested for state crimes connected to smuggling and related offenses rather than solely immigration status.
