Judge Penzone on what he does, not on what Arpaio did

The best way to get an accurate reading on how Paul Penzone is measuring up as sheriff is to look at his undertakings — not view him through his predecessor’s lens. Arizonans are closely watching Penzone’s every move — and rightly so. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is one of the largest in the nation and among the most notorious because of the man who preceded Penzone.

But is it fair to judge Penzone against Joe Arpaio’s flamboyant management style, which turned the office into a media circus and plunged it into legal chaos?

Seeing Penzone through the lens of Arpaio’s warped view of the world makes current challenges blurry and makes it much more difficult to rebuild the public’s trust.

Sure, let’s call Penzone out when we disagree with him, but let’s do it with the proper context.

Let’s not forget that Penzone replaced a man whose bravado cost taxpayers about $56 million in legal fees since 2007 over racial profiling, who sank employee morale and enraged a large segment of the public.

Penzone has been hammered for his handling of a policy change that initially gave the impression immigration agents would not be allowed to pick up undocumented immigrants inside the jails. This could have been handled better by talking with immigration authorities before speaking with reporters. Lesson learned, I hope. Pro-immigrant activists are crying foul, demanding that Penzone defy state and federal laws to protect undocumented immigrants. Their frustration is understandable, because after defeating Arpaio, they expected a sympathetic sheriff.

And he is, to a point. But Penzone also has made it clear that he won’t break any laws. Activists should give Penzone credit for not detaining those here illegally beyond their sentences, and they should work closely with him to find other solutions.

The sheriff needs time and breathing room to keep learning the minutiae of the office and to deal with Arpaio’s lawsuits and policies. He needs viable ideas about what to do with the infamous Tent City Jail. And he needs help setting priorities overall, local attorney David Tierney suggested.

“He has a monumental task before him,’’ said Tierney, who plans to talk about Penzone during Thursday’s Valley Leadership luncheon in Phoenix. “Paul Penzone is going to have to pick his way on a hundred different ways at a time when the national political scene is in a right-wing-leaning spiral.”

Tierney is this year’s Valley Leadership Man of the Year and is a critic of mass incarceration. He said that while Penzone faces many challenges, he needs to focus on drug and alcohol programs and work with others on transitional housing for the nearly 100,000 people released from county jails annually.

Others say the sheriff should quietly do his job. No press conferences, no big public pronouncements. In other words, hide. I disagree. Penzone seems to be striking the right tone publicly and internally. Sheriff’s Office employees tell me morale is up since he arrived and that he heeds their suggestions.

They tell me he’s making decisions based on the rule of law and data, not emotions. That he promotes the office, not himself. That he wants to know how every dollar is spent. I’m sure not all employees are happy with him, but the enthusiasm seems palpable and real.

Penzone’s success should matter to all of us. We should be cheering him for our pocketbook’s sake, for immigrants’ rights and for our safety.