Paul Penzone

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. 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%). 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 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.

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 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.