Paul Penzone

Paul Penzone
Penzone in July 2017
37th Sheriff of Maricopa County
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2017
Preceded by	Joe Arpaio
Personal details
Born	1967 (age 49–50) Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.
Political party	Democratic

Paul Penzone (born 1967) is 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.

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.

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.

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 just over 50% of the vote to Penzone's 45%, with independent candidate Mike Stauffer running a distant third.