Embattled Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu teamed up with state Senator/New Times' "Best Raving Loon" Sylvia Allen yesterday to announce that armed volunteers now be combating drug-smuggling in the county.

Babeu's unpaid "Anti-Smuggling Posse" will be the junior-varsity squad for PCSO's SWAT team when it comes to smuggling operations.

See also:
-Sylvia Allen's "Arizona Guard": Disaster in the Making

Allen tried to get a similar group of volunteers covering the border via a bill last legislative session, called the State Guard, but common sense prevailed on that one.

Babeu's posse is totally a good idea, according to Allen and PCSO higher-ups, because the posse members will have to pass background checks and get weapons training four times a year. They'll also receive "tactical training."

According to Allen, the posse is "a wonderful enhancement to our effort to protect the border."

Pinal County, of course, borders Maricopa, Pima, Gila, and Graham counties, and shares zero miles of the border with Mexico.

More specifically, PCSO says the posse "will provide surveillance and intelligence support to the Pinal County Sheriff's Office Regional SWAT during tactical operations they perform against the Mexican Drug Cartels in western Pinal County."

What could possibly go wrong? Yeeeeeeeeeeee-haw.

• Arpaio