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Paul Penzone
37th Sheriff of Maricopa County
In office January 1, 2017 – January 12, 2024
Preceded by	Joe Arpaio
Succeeded by	Russ Skinner (acting)
Personal details
Born	(1967-03-29) March 29, 1967 (age 57) Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Glendale Community College Northern Arizona University

Paul Penzone (born March 29, 1967) is a former American law enforcement officer. He was the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Penzone was elected sheriff in 2016, defeating longtime incumbent Joe Arpaio. Penzone is a former sergeant in the Phoenix Police Department.

Early life and education

Penzone was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He is the son of Rose and Charlie Penzone, and is of Italian descent. Penzone went to Phoenix's Cortez High School and studied criminal justice at Glendale Community College and Northern Arizona University.

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 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, made his first bid for elected office in an unsuccessful campaign for Maricopa County sheriff in 2012 against incumbent Republican Joe Arpaio. 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 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). 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." Arpaio, a controversial figure, had been criminally charged with contempt of court for disregarding a court order to halt the racial profiling of Latinos. Penzone called Arpaio's conduct leading to the contempt charge "unforgivable." During the campaign—which the Arizona Republic 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), 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 (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, 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

1. Tolan, Casey (March 3, 2017). "America's Worst Sheriff Is Gone". Slate. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
2. ^ "Paul Penzone defeats Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County sheriff race". KTAR. November 8, 2016.
3. ^ Brahm Resnik (April 7, 2016). "Democrat Penzone making 2nd run against Arpaio". KPNX.
4. "Home page – Penzone for Sheriff". Penzone for Sheriff. Retrieved December 24, 2016.
5. ^ Tami Hoey, Paul Penzone enters 2016 race against Sheriff Arpaio, KPHO/KTVK (April 6, 2016).
6. ^ New Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone takes office in private ceremony, Associated Press (January 2, 2017).
7. ^ Arizona Maricopa Sheriff: Results: Paul Penzone Wins, New York Times (December 13, 2016).
8. Megan Cassidy, Sheriff candidate Joe Rodriguez drops out of race, throws support to Paul Penzone, Arizona Republic (April 12, 2016).
9. "Soros spends $2 million to defeat Arpaio". POLITICO. November 4, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
10. "Tough Phoenix sheriff may have new foe: George Soros | The Journal Record". September 14, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
11. Critchfield, Ali Swenson, Hannah. "High-Profile Arizonans Offer High-Dollar Donations to Penzone for Sheriff". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved November 16, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
12. "Tough Phoenix sheriff may have new foe: George Soros". AP NEWS. September 14, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
13. "Controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio ousted after 24 years in Democrat upset". the Guardian. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
14. ^ Megan Cassidy, Maricopa County Sheriff-elect Paul Penzone names leadership team, Arizona Republic (December 20, 2016).
15. ^ Jacques Billeaud (November 16, 2016). "Tent jails, pink undies: Odd choices for New Arizona sheriff". Associated Press.
16. Rebekah L. Sanders & Megan Cassidy, Democratic challenger Paul Penzone sues Sheriff Joe Arpaio for defamation in race for sheriff, Arizona Republic (September 30, 2016).
17. ^ Megan Cassidy (October 9, 2017). "Maricopa County's Tent City jail officially shut down". The Arizona Republic.
18. "Elected as the anti-Arpaio, new Phoenix sheriff finds himself at center of nation's immigration debate". Los Angeles Times. March 10, 2017.
19. Megan Cassidy; Laura Gomez (April 4, 2017). "Tent City, infamous home of inmates who wear pink underwear and major piece of Arpaio's legacy, is closing". The Arizona Republic.
20. "Democrat Paul Penzone wins reelection as Maricopa County sheriff". KTAR.com. November 6, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
21. "Sheriff Found in Contempt in Same Case That Ensnared Arpaio". Retrieved June 17, 2023.
22. "Sheriff Paul Penzone's failure to close misconduct cases 'unacceptable'". Retrieved June 17, 2023.
23. "Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone sends resignation letter to Board of Supervisors". December 22, 2023.

• 1967 births
• Arizona sheriffs
• Arizona Democrats
• Living people
• Politicians from Trenton, New Jersey
• Politicians from Phoenix, Arizona
• American people of Italian descent