Penzone: MCSO on way to respectability

Sheriff touts money saved, eschews ‘bells and whistles’

For a lawman who campaigned on a promise to prioritize public safety over politics, Paul Penzone had a challenging first few months.

The Maricopa County sheriff was thrown into political controversy when his office followed attorneys’ advice to end prolonged federal immigration holds, and when it was unexpectedly stripped of gang-enforcement funding by the state budget. (Critics described the move as Republican lawmakers’ punishment for the Democratic sheriff’s party affiliation.)

On Wednesday, Penzone worked to reclaim his own narrative. In a brief presentation at the Arizona Grand Resort, Penzone spotlighted his agency’s publicsafety successes in fugitive apprehension, crimes against children and the opioid epidemic.

“My objective today is this,” he said. “It is to create a new lens, a new perspective, of what it is we are doing in law enforcement as one organization, working with our partners in this community, to provide safety.”

Penzone also touted his money-saving moves, including his decision to have the Sheriff’s Office represented by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office instead of by private law firms, along with last month’s announcement that he would be closing Tent City Jail. The facility’s closing would save about $4.5 million annually, he said Wednesday. Cutting the use of outside counsel will save an estimated $1.5 million annually.

Not mentioned was the sheriff’s predecessor, Joe Arpaio, or his predecessor’s platform, immigration en-

forcement.

During his 24 years in office, Arpaio became a Republican star for his hard-line stance on illegal immigration. Although his immigration operations delighted Arpaio’s conservative base, they also resulted in innumerable lawsuits and payouts of millions in taxpayer dollars.

Penzone, who ousted Arpaio in the November general election, rarely has mentioned him by name since. But Arpaio’s legacy remains in the subtext of Penzone’s priorities and public statements.

Where Arpaio made decisions based on personal instincts, Penzone relies on financial reviews and in-depth analyses; for example, he has created a system to examine crime rates. While Arpaio’s administration fractured its relationship with the Hispanic community, Penzone promoted his office’s Hispanic and African-American advisory committees.

Arpaio also relished cheeky, media-friendly devices such as requiring inmates to wear pink underwear, to work in chain gangs and to be served green bologna.

“We are never going to be about bells and whistles,” Penzone said. “We are going to be about investments and outcomes. The investment is in the community that we serve, with our law-enforcement partners … and it’s in our staff.”

Penzone is also looking to maintain a “tough on crime” reputation. On Wednesday, he showed the audience of about 80 people a short video that featured deputies apprehending fugitives and the mug shots of those who were captured.

Penzone closed with an invitation to the community to work with the office through the transition, and with a message for his detractors.

“For those who have criticism, criticism is always openly appreciated, if it’s constructive and intended for solutions,” he said.

“If your criticism is intended to tear down and to undermine where we’re going, it’s probably best that you step out of our way, because we are on our way to becoming one of the most-respected organizations in the nation,” he added.