Paul Penzone (born March 29, 1967) is a former American law enforcement officer. He was the sheriff of

Maricopa County Maricopa County () is a county in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,420,568, or about 62% of the state's total, making it the fourth-most populous county in the United States and ...

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. Penzone was elected sheriff in 2016, defeating longtime incumbent

Joe Arpaio Joseph Michael Arpaio (; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He was the Sheriffs in the United States, Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, ...

. Penzone is a former sergeant in the

Phoenix Police Department The Phoenix Police Department is the law enforcement agency responsible for the city of Phoenix, Arizona. As of May 2024, the Phoenix Police Department comprises just over 2,500 officers, some 625 below authorized strength of 3,125 and more than ...

Early life and education

Penzone was born in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

. He is the son of Rose and Charlie Penzone, and is of Italian descent. Penzone went to Phoenix's

Cortez High School Cortez High School is located in Phoenix, Arizona at 8828 N 31st Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85051. It is part of the Glendale Union High School District. The mascot is the Colt and the school colors are primarily black and white with red used as an al ...

and studied criminal justice at Glendale Community College and

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1899, it was the third and final university established in the Arizona Territory. It is one of the three universities gove ...

.Tami Hoey
Paul Penzone enters 2016 race against Sheriff Arpaio
KPHO/KTVK (April 6, 2016).

Phoenix police officer

Penzone joined the Phoenix Police Department in 1988, and served for 21 years. For seven years, Penzone ran the Phoenix Police Department's "Silent Witness" program, which encouraged witnesses to report crimes. Penzone ran the program during the high-profile " Baseline Killer" and " Serial Shooter" investigations. Penzone created a

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

version of the program. After retiring from the police force, Penzone joined the non-profit group Childhelp as vice president. The group focuses on preventing child abuse and neglect.

Maricopa County Sheriff

Penzone, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, made his first bid for elected office in an unsuccessful campaign for Maricopa County sheriff in 2012 against incumbent Republican

. In that election (in which Arpaio outspent Penzone by an eight-to-one margin), Arpaio received 50.7% of the vote to Penzone's 44.7%, with

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

Mike Stauffer running a distant third. In 2016, Penzone again ran against Arpaio, who at that point had been in office for 24 years (six terms).New Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone takes office in private ceremony
Associated Press (January 2, 2017).Arizona Maricopa Sheriff: Results: Paul Penzone Wins
''New York Times'' (December 13, 2016). In the Democratic primary election, Penzone initially faced former

Arizona Department of Corrections The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry (ADCRR), commonly and formerly referred to as simply the Arizona Department of Corrections, is the statutory law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates in 13 ...

supervisor Joe Rodriguez, but Rodriguez withdrew from the race in April 2016 and threw his support behind Penzone "to defeat Sheriff Arpaio in November for the good of Maricopa County citizens." In 2016 Penzone received a campaign finance contribution of $2,000,000 from a

George Soros George Soros (born György Schwartz; August 12, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist. , he has a net worth of US$7.2 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundat ...

-funded

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, Maricopa Strong. In the November 2016 general election, Penzone defeated Arpaio by 665,478 votes (55.6%) to Arpaio's 531,674 votes (44.4%). During his campaign, Penzone pledged "to refocus the agency on law enforcement and rein in taxpayer dollars previously spent on civil-rights lawsuits."Megan Cassidy
Maricopa County Sheriff-elect Paul Penzone names leadership team
''Arizona Republic'' (December 20, 2016). Arpaio, a controversial figure, had been criminally charged with

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...

for disregarding a court order to halt the

racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the offender profiling, selective enforcement or selective prosecution based on race or ethnicity, rather than individual suspicion or evidence. This practice involves discrimination against minority pop ...

of Latinos. Penzone called Arpaio's conduct leading to the contempt charge "unforgivable." During the campaign—which the ''

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

'' described as "an intense, nasty race"—Penzone sued Arpaio for defamation over an attack ad that Arpaio ran. Penzone pledged to run the sheriff's office in a nonpartisan manner. To that end, he promised to reverse several of Arpaio's "unorthodox and divisive" practices (see

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office controversies The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is a law enforcement agency in Maricopa County, Arizona that was involved in a number of controversies. It is the largest Sheriffs in the United States, sheriff's office in the state of Arizona and provi ...

), which Penzone considers to be publicity stunts, such as forcing jail inmates to wear pink underwear and "investigating" President Obama's birth certificate. Penzone also said that he would scale back the use of inmate chain gangs and review

Tent City A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents or other temporary structures. State governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house evacuees, refugees, or soldiers. UNICEF's Supply Division supplies expandable te ...

(an area of the jail housing inmates in military-style tents). After his election, as sheriff-elect, Penzone chose a new leadership team within the sheriff's office. Penzone took office on January 1, 2017. In April 2017, Penzone announced that per a recommendation from an advisory committee, he was shutting down Tent City. He believed the facility was a "circus" that did not effectively deter crime. Tent City operations were phased out over six months; it closed in October 2017. In 2020, Penzone won reelection over Republican Jerry Sheridan, a longtime aide to Arpaio, again winning by a double-digit margin. In November 2022, Judge

G. Murray Snow Grant Murray Snow (born October 20, 1959) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Snow was previously a state court judge on the Arizona ...

, the Chief Judge for the United States District Court of Arizona, held Penzone in contempt of court in the same case Arpaio was held in contempt of court. Snow stated Penzone, "does not demonstrate that he has taken all reasonable steps to comply with the order, especially as the backlog has increased. The backlog, despite Sheriff Penzone’s knowledge of it, only gets worse.” Penzone filed an appeal against the contempt finding. Penzone resigned the office of sheriff as of January 12, 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penzone, Paul 1967 births Arizona sheriffs Arizona Democrats Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Trenton, New Jersey Politicians from Phoenix, Arizona American people of Italian descent