Hobbs, Biggs discuss the AZ border, Flock cameras

While Arizona's southern border is more secure than it was two years ago, border security remains a top concern for voters and continues to impact communities statewide. As governor, what specific actions would you take to combat drug smuggling, human trafficking, and other criminal activity tied to the border? Thanks for that question. The first thing that I think we need to do is to make sure that the Border Security Strike Force is fully funded, fully equipped, and we have interagency cooperation. That's where we would begin. Second thing I'll do is I will appoint a border czar to help coordinate where we need it. And the third thing I think that needs to happen is we need to have to acknowledge that we need to have cooperation with federal agencies as well, federal law enforcement. We've got to make this a real priority. We are one of only two states with increasing fentanyl overdose deaths. And we need to make sure that we are addressing that. The other thing is I think we need to work with some of our tribal partners and make sure that we're getting the cooperation that we need. And make sure that they feel that we're respecting them as we proceed in this as well. Question number two is about pension reform. Arizona enacted significant reforms to the public safety personnel retirement system in 2011. They did it again in 2016. While those reforms were intended to strengthen the long-term financial stability of the system, they also reduced pension benefits for newly hired first responders. Today, there's a growing concern that some of those changes may have gone too far and are now contributing to the recruitment and retention challenges. One of the most significant provisions requires officers to reach age 55 before they can begin collecting their pension, regardless of their years of service. If legislation reached your desk allowing a public safety employee to retire and collect their pension after 25 years of service, without a minimum age requirement, would you sign it? Why or why not? Yeah, I would sign that bill. Look, one of the biggest problems that we have in law enforcement today is recruitment and retention. And we are competing with agencies not just in Arizona, but we're competing with agencies from other states. So I think reform of the system is important. One of the things I will do is put together a task force for retirement reform or pension reform that includes law enforcement, citizens, municipalities, principalities, and I won't go that way. But a lot of people who actually know this and are serious about making meaningful reform, we have to probably make meaningful reform right now. There's nothing more important to me than public safety, because without public safety, you can't have a free society. And the founders knew that. That is the constitutional prescriptions that they put in. And so if we're gonna do that, we need to make sure that we're retaining our forces, make sure that they're adequately taken care of on the back end as well as the front end. One of the big topics facing law enforcement right now is technology. Technology such as real time crime centers, license plate readers, facial recognition have become critical tools for solving crimes. But they also raise legitimate privacy concerns. As governor, how would you balance giving law enforcement the technology it needs to protect the public with reasonable safeguards for individual privacy? So one of the big problems that we have, I'm gonna liken this just frankly to some of the federal issues. So the federal issue, for instance, that is most salient here, which is an analog to what you're talking about, is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The FISA Act has been sorely abused and needed some significant reforms. And that is where I've actually reached across the aisle. I've worked with people as disparate as Pramila Jayapal, Jerry Nadler, and actually Warren Davidson on my side of the aisle. Ron Wyden from Oregon, Democrat Senator for Oregon. We have worked to try to put safeguards in place. Now you've given a panoply of technology. Some of it is more prone to privacy invasion than others. And it seems to me that the public has now made it clear that there are aspects of this that they don't like. And we actually have some of our law enforcement agencies and officers backing away. We have municipalities backing away from some of these as well. We need to make sure we have the technology necessary to protect the public. But you have a very delicate balancing act that you're going to have to deal with, not the least of which, and I'm going to say it. You've got the flock camera and the technology that allows for linking that license reader with your cell phone. And people are going to absolutely freak out if they realize that, and I think many of them do. And we're going to have to respect a lot of those issues too. I mean, you have some serious constitutional constraints that we have to be careful with. The next is corrections staffing. Arizona's correctional system continues to struggle with chronic understaffing, mandatory overtime, and compensation challenges. As governor, what specific steps would you take to improve pay and working conditions, and make Arizona more competitive in recruiting and retraining correctional officers? So, I'm pleased to tell you that I'm endorsed by multiple federal prison employee unions, because of my position that I've taken at the federal level with regard to trying to help correction officers at the federal level. Because you're the front end, the corrections officers are the back end, and they deal with these things, and it's a very difficult job. I've actually toured our prisons, and I would tell you that we're going to have to, they need more pay. They need better training, they need better conditions, and they need more support. Because right now, their morale is incredibly low, whether it's federal or stateside. And we want to make sure that they're taken care of. I mean, better equipment, better training, better pay. And all in all, give them the respect they deserve, because they are just as integral to the judicial system as any other law enforcement officer. The next address is the fentanyl crisis. Arizona spent years fighting the fentanyl crisis, yet the drug continues to claim lives in strained communities across our state. As governor, what would you do differently? How would you balance enforcement, prosecution, prevention, and treatment to produce measurable results? So, this is kind of covered in the very first question that we were talking about, but now you're asking some additional components. So, I think you need to make sure that we have the task force in place to try to interdict human and drug trafficking. We know where they're coming across on our southern border. We know. We know where they are. And so, this is where it's important that we have cooperation with tribal agencies, as well as with our counties, as well as with our local jurisdictions, but also working in tandem with our federal jurisdictions. I mean, that's on the front end. I also think that what we need to do at the state is probably do something that we've tried to do at the federal level, and that is increase penalties, particularly if someone is distributing or selling fentanyl that results in a death. Federal level, we are trying to make sure that that penalty is commensurate with actual manslaughter or murder. So, those are the types of penalties that need to be put in place. The other aspect, treatment, I think we've talked about treatment. So, a lot of what happens on the treatment side is people don't get a lot of shots at fentanyl because it's so dangerous. And the fentanyl, you've gone from two grains being fatal now to actually vapor or powder that you can't even see being fatal. It is going to take continued public awareness campaigns. We need to make sure that we are providing that support. Those are some basic techniques, I think. All right, the final question is about recruitment and retention. Arizona law enforcement agencies, from rural sheriff's offices to major metropolitan forces, continue to struggle with serious staffing shortages. Beyond one-time funding or grants, what specific policies would you pursue to make Arizona a national leader in recruiting and retaining qualified law enforcement officers? Well, first of all, I think what we need to do is make sure that our officers at whatever agency they're at feel respected and have hope. That they understand pretty clearly that they're going to have a governor in me who will stand behind them and will support them. And that means where we have infrastructure needs, we need to take care of our infrastructure needs. That means where we have pension problems, we need to have an ability to reform the pension to make it worthwhile. That means that we need to continually reach out with our law enforcement partners so we don't view each other as adversaries, but instead we view ourselves as collaborators to keep the public safe. That means that where it's necessary, you provide the pay infrastructure that works best to keep these people together and provides a recruiting opportunity. With every agency, as far as I know in the state, seems to have vacancies. And we want to make sure that we fill those vacancies with people who want to be there, who are qualified to be there. That means we provide them up front training, we provide them the equipment that they need. In fact, when I was in the legislature, I started the law enforcement equipment fund. And that's one more thing that I think is pretty indicative of where we need to be. We need to make sure that our law enforcement officers know we need them, we want them, we're going to support them. All right, so each of the candidates, we're asking them the same six questions. And at the end of the question and answer, we have 20 minutes allotted. We've gotten finished in under that 20 minute time. Congressman, you've got two minutes to make comments to the crowd at your discretion. What? Then you're done. Wow, that was, I feel like that was a lightning round. First of all, thank you for what you do. Thanks for having me here. I love being able to discuss this. And I hope that you understand that my commitment is to make sure you can do your job the safest way you can. Make sure that you can live the American dream and support your family, and that you can go home safely at the end of every shift. That's important to me, and it's important that we work together and collaborate. I hesitate to say this, but I feel like I have to say it. I'm going to be excused from this room. I am not even permitted to stay here when my opponent's going to give her speech. I don't get that, but that's okay, that's okay. All's I'll tell you is, I am prepared to go step in right away to be a governor. I know how the state legislature works, I worked there. I know how the feds work, I worked there. I love this state, I know you love this state. And quite frankly, I don't see how we are going to be a safe, free society living the American dream without making some changes. I support you, I'll make sure that you feel that support when I'm the governor. And with that, I'll just say, God bless you all, thanks for what you do. Please be safe out there, and until we meet again, God bless you all, thank you. Welcome, Governor, thank you for doing this. Thank you. Same six questions for you that we asked Congressman Biggs. We'll start with question number one, it's about border security. We have 20 minutes together, if we get through all six questions, great, and then you have two minutes to comment at the end. While Arizona's southern border is more secure than it was two years ago, border security remains a top concern for voters and continues to impact communities statewide. As governor, what specific actions would you take to combat drug smuggling, human trafficking, and other criminal activity tied to the border? Great question, I already have taken a lot of action on the border. When I took office, the border was chaos, and the Biden administration had failed Arizonans on border security. And I knew that we needed to take action, it is not a Democratic or Republican issue, Arizonans want a secure border. And so I talked to law enforcement, especially in our border communities, I heard from them directly what they needed, and we provided resources. I sent the National Guard to the border to help with drug interdiction, and we have deployed over $200 million to local law enforcement to help improve their technology, their communication, provide more vehicles, more staffing. And we've had great success, we have interdicted over 18 million fentanyl pills, thousands of pounds of other illegal drugs, over 1,500 illegal weapons. And we've built partnerships across the state that are helping us go after criminals that want to hurt Arizonans. And I know there's more to do, we can't take our foot off the gas, but we've worked with the Trump administration, and I've heard directly from folks on the ground that right now the border is manageable. Partly because of the work we've done, and partly because of the administration that's taking border security seriously. And I'm looking forward to continuing those partnerships and continuing to work to keep our border secure and keep Arizonans safe. The second question, very important to so many people in this room, is about pension reform. Arizona enacted significant reforms to public safety personnel retirement system in 2011. They did it again in 2016. While those reforms were intended to strengthen the long term financial stability of the system, they also reduced pension benefits for newly hired first responders. Today, there's a growing concern that some of those changes may have gone too far and are now contributing to the recruitment and retention challenges. One of the most significant provisions requires officers to reach age 55 before they can begin collecting their pension, regardless of their years of service. If legislation reaches your desk, allowing a public safety employee to retire and collect their pension after 25 years of service without a minimum age requirement, would you sign it, why or why not? So I know that having a strong pension system is critical to recruiting and retaining strong officers across the state. And when we did that tier three system in 2016, it was critical to do so because we were at risk of insolvency. And so any changes that we make, we have to ensure that we're doing in a way that is fiscally responsible and ensures that those pensions are there for the officers they're promised to. So my commitment is that any changes that are made to the system, we will work collaboratively to ensure that they are fiscally sustainable, that we're not gonna get to a point of insolvency. And we have built strong partnerships over the last four years, and I know this is a challenge that we need to work together to solve, and I'm ready to help get that done. Would the 25 years be something you would consider regardless of their age? I think I'm committed to working together with leadership to address this challenge and do it in a way that is fiscally sustainable. I don't necessarily wanna commit to the details of that right now. Okay, thank you. Law enforcement technology is question number three. Technologies such as real time cameras or crime center, sorry, license plate readers and facial recognition have become critical tools for solving crimes, but they also raise legitimate privacy concerns. As governor, how would you balance giving law enforcement the technology it needs to protect the public with reasonable safeguards for individual privacy? I've seen firsthand how some of this technology is so important to helping our law enforcement do their jobs, solve crimes. I've also heard a lot of the privacy concerns, and we've seen instances where some bad actors have misused technology. And when you see those stories, you understand the privacy concerns. And I think I've been glad to see that in these situations they've been dealt with by the departments. That needs to continue. I believe the state's role is not telling local communities how to solve crimes, how to deploy technology in their communities. But our job is to put in place guardrails and safeguards so that that technology is used responsibly in the right ways. Whether that's around training, audits, whatever needs to happen. But it is not our job to tell communities how to enforce their laws. And when we're continuing to see constrained budgets and pressure, fiscal pressure, and we have technology available that helps law enforcement do their job, keep our community safe, communities should be able to use that technology. And I trust those local officials and leaders to make those decisions. Thank you. The fourth question is corrections staffing. Arizona's correctional system continues to struggle with chronic understaffing, mandatory overtime, and compensation challenges. As governor, what specific steps would you take to improve pay and working conditions and make Arizona more competitive in recruiting and retaining correctional officers? Our correction system in Arizona has been neglected for a long time. And when I took office, the correction officer vacancy rate was at 22%. That is really alarming, and we've gotten that down to about 13.5%. That's still kind of high. But given the fact that that 13.5% is an all-time low vacancy rate for the department, and that gives you a sense of the hole that we've been climbing out of to address the staffing issues. We did that with a 4% pay raise, and we also increased the employer contribution to the tier three pension system by 10%. So now the employer's contributing 5.5% to that pension system for each employee. So there's more work to be done, but I'm really proud that we've worked to do that. We've also spent $49 million to improve safety in our prisons, locks, doors, fire system, also $5 million to deploy body-worn cameras, which is something that I heard directly from correction officers that they wanted to help improve their safety, and since they've had those, that they feel safer. And so was really glad to help provide that resource. The other big issue around correction staffing is with the Jensen lawsuit and injunction. When I took office, this lawsuit had been around for more than a decade, pretty much ignored, and the judge has ended up putting us in receivership. I don't agree with that decision. I think that the men and women in charge and elected officials are the ones who should be making those staffing decisions, not an unelected judge. And she ignored the progress that we've already made to address some of the issues in the lawsuit, including $550 million towards staffing challenges. So we are going to fight this. We are appealing the receivership, and we'll continue to make good faith efforts to make progress on the real staffing challenges that have been brought up. But we're gonna fight this receivership because that is, it's not the way to solve our problems. Question number five deals with the fentanyl crisis. Arizona has spent years fighting the fentanyl crisis, yet the drug continues to claim lives and strain communities across the state of Arizona. As governor, what would you do differently? How would you balance enforcement, prosecution, prevention, and treatment to produce measurable results? Fentanyl is a terrible crisis, and it's been very challenging and hard to deal with. And we really need a two-pronged approach, both on the enforcement side and the treatment side. And I've worked with law enforcement leaders to do both. Starting with enforcement, I already talked about the work we've done at the border, deploying the National Guard to over $200 million to law enforcement around the state to interdict drugs, among other things. And we've interdicted over 18 million fentanyl pills. We've also tackled it from the treatment side, most notably working with the sheriffs to help fund their re-entry program. So that folks coming out of the jails are getting the treatment they need, they're not recidivating, and that is taking pressure off of law enforcement. We absolutely 100% need to do more, and I'm committed to doing that. And what I'm hearing on the front lines is that we're seeing in Arizona more of the highly concentrated, more dangerous fentanyl powder. That is a large contributor to the higher overdose deaths. Our extreme heat is also a huge contributor, something that other states don't necessarily have to deal with on the same level. So we're gonna continue to attack this problem on every front. Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to doing that, and I really value the work that we've done together, and look forward to continuing it. The final question is about recruitment and retention. Arizona law enforcement agencies, from the rural sheriff's offices to the major metropolitan forces, continue to struggle with serious staffing shortages. Beyond one-time funding or grants, what specific policies would you pursue to make Arizona a national leader in recruiting and retaining qualified law enforcement officers? Every law enforcement leader I talk to talks about recruitment and retention as an issue and a challenge that we need to tackle. Budgets continue to be constrained. We have to continue to find ways to creatively address this. Last year, in the budget I fought for and secured a 5% raise for state troopers. Already mentioned the 4% raise for correction officers. And we were able to continue those raises this year. I also secured supplemental funding for state trooper overtime pay to make sure that we're able to address our state's public safety needs. We need to do more, and I'm committed to continuing to do more. But I think also really, the 12 week paid family leave that I implemented almost off the bat when I took office. And I've heard from employees across the state, especially troopers and correction officers, that that has been a huge benefit for them to be able to stay home with their newborns when they really needed that time. We need to continue to do more. I think what's really important is having leadership that has your back. And I have always had law enforcement's back. And I cannot say the same for my opponent. And I wanna give you two examples. This year at the end of the legislative session, the legislature referred HCR 2040 to the ballot. A ballot measure that really threatened law enforcement collective bargaining rights. And we were working on a deal, negotiating a deal that would have taken that off the ballot. And then Andy Biggs got involved and derailed the deal, blew it up, really. And fortunately, the Supreme Court knocked that off the ballot. But if they hadn't, and Andy Biggs had his way, then there would be an existential crisis to public safety unions on the ballot this November. The other thing that I wanna mention is Andy Biggs' support for folks who were involved in January 6th and assaulting officers on January 6th. He voted against giving congressional gold medals to the officers who protected the Capitol. And he called for pardoning of the January 6th defendants and called them J6 political prisoners. And when those pardons were issued and those folks were being released, he went to the DC jail and stood with supporters when those folks were being released. I will never stand with folks who assault officers. I will stand with officers every single day. Thank you, Governor. You have two minutes to address the crowd on any topic that you like. We again appreciate you attending tonight. Thanks for being here. The floor is yours. Well, thank you so much for having me here. And more importantly, thank you for the work that you all do protecting Arizonans every single day. I am really proud of the partnerships that we've built over the last four years. And the work we've done together to work to secure the border, to keep dangerous drugs off the street, to invest in public safety. And to make sure that the men and women who serve our communities have the resources that they need to do their jobs. And I know that there is more work to be done. And I am ready to work with you over the next four years to do that. We need to look for ways to continue to increase pay, to improve benefits, to address the pension issues, and to make sure that the men and women who serve our communities have the resources and equipment that they need. You also deserve a governor that has your back, not just when it's politically convenient, but every single day. And that's the kind of partnership that I've worked to build. And I will continue to build over the next four years. Together, we will keep Arizona safe. We will improve law enforcement. And we will make sure that Arizona is a place where officers wanna serve, build their careers, and raise their families. And I look forward to working with you all for the next four years. Thank you so much.