WHEN America’s toughest sheriff made his debut as a reality television star last weekend, the reviews were best described as arresting.

“Horrid”, “sickening” and “absolutely deplorable” were some of the insults hurled at Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his work on a controversial new series, Smile . . . You’re Under Arrest!. The Phoenix lawman, who attracted international criticism for dressing his inmates in pink jumpsuits and sending them out to work on chain gangs, is once again stirring up trouble from his base in Maricopa County, Arizona.

Arpaio’s decision to cooperate with a reality series that tricks wanted criminals into appearing before television cameras - allowing the sheriff to step out of the wings to arrest them - has stirred fury among defence lawyers and human rights advocates.

Despite years of criticism about his heavy-handed methods and repeated accusations that his publicity stunts have failed to control crime, Arpaio ran for reelection as sheriff last November and won by a landslide.

His starring role in the Fox cable television series follows a damning report by the Goldwater Institute, a well-known conservative think tank, which concluded that Arpaio’s recent high-profile strategy of cracking down on illegal immigrants had gravely impaired his county’s law enforcement record.

The report found that while other American cities were experiencing a sharp slow-down in violent crime, homicides in areas patrolled by Arpaio’s officers were up 166% between 2004 and 2007. His widely publicised immigrant sweeps have also turned out to be expensive and inefficient, according to Clint Bolick, author of the report.

In the past Arpaio has dismissed his critics as liberal namby-pambies lacking the stomach for hard-nosed police work and suitably deterrent punishment. He has argued that his regular reelection to office (he is now serving his fifth term as sheriff) meant “the people like what I’m doing”.

It was hard last week to find anyone who liked the first episode of Smile . . ., which one critic derided as “a stupid show for stupid people”.

Arpaio defended his work as a useful collaboration that costs taxpayers nothing and results in the arrests of numerous crooks wanted on outstanding warrants. “I can sacrifice one hour to participate in one programme to take bad guys off the streets,” he said.

Others claimed the sheriff’s taste for self-publicity was turning the area’s law enforcement into a farce. “The man has lost complete touch with reality,” said Michael Mann, a Phoenix lawyer.

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