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

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

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

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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 served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone i ...

. 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 October 2021, the Phoenix Police Department comprises just under 2,800 officers, some 350 below authorized strength of 3,125 and mor ...

Early life and education

Penzone was born in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. Penzone went to Phoenix's Cortez High School and studied criminal justice at Glendale Community College and Northern Arizona University.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 A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

" investigations. Penzone created a Spanish-language 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 (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

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

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. In that election (in which Arpaio outspent Penzone by an eight-to-one margin), Arpaio received just over 50% of the vote to Penzone's 45%, with independent candidate 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 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-funded PAC, 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 for disregarding a court order to halt the

racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...

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. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'' 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 sheriff's office in the state of Arizona and provides general and specialized law ...

), 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.

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 politicians of Italian descent