Megan Cassidy

The Republic | azcentral.com

Former Phoenix police Sgt. Paul Penzone soundly defeated incumbent Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio Tuesday night, preventing a seventh term for the 84-year-old lawman.

Penzone sat down with The Arizona Republic fresh off his win Wednesay afternoon to talk about his plans for a MCSO without Sheriff Joe.

(An abridged transcript of the interview is below. Watch the video above to see the full interview.)

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It was your second time running against Sheriff Joe Arpaio in this race. (Penzone narrowly lost in 2012.) What made you challenge him again this year?

It was about unfinished business. For me personally, I haven’t seen a change — from that office, from the leadership, from my opponent — that was truly intended to serve our community.

It wasn’t an easy decision, because it affects me and my family in a lot of ways that are personal in nature. But at the end of the day, if you’re not willing to fight for something you believe in, and that matters, for service of others, then really what contribution are you making to the community or to society? As a law-enforcement professional, it’s important to me.

So, it was one of those things I knew what I would face. (It) didn’t make it any easier, but it was something that we had to do and that I had to do.

You are going to inherit at least a couple of high-profile lawsuits. How do you plan to tackle these cases, comply with the court orders, while also learning your position?

It’s a lot. It’s a lot to take on, and that’s why it’s important for me to have a strong evaluation of the hierarchy there to make sure that we have the right people in the right places. That our direction is one that’s new, and it’s appropriate and just.

When it comes to those lawsuits though, whether you own them or they’re your responsibility, you have to own up and address them. And you have to address them in a fashion that you minimize the damage that is done, not only to those you impacted, but the financial damage.

So what I have to do is be very progressive and aggressive with the training implementation. Because … (the Sheriff's Office is) not even into code yet, they’re not in compliance. We have to get to compliance as quickly as possible.

And my hope is that if we do such a good job that maybe we can sit down and have a conversation with the courts and the ACLU, and prove ... we’re exceeding those expectations, and see if we can shorten the scale from three years maybe down to two or even less.

(The goal would be) to relieve that financial burden on our taxpayers, which is unfair and it affects us. It affects the safety of our children. It affects other areas where those dollars could be more effectively spent.

You have leverage to choose many of your own aides. Do you foresee management changes?

It’s really dependent on those that are there and their skill sets, how they’ve earned those positions, and what they’re willing to embrace them going forward.

I recognize 24 years in the making, maybe those employees only know that one form of leadership. It’s a hard habit to break; it’s a hard change to make. But it needs to be done, so if you’re willing to work with me to do it, then there’s going to be some great opportunities.

One of the benefits that I have is, this is my community, this is where I’ve worked, and a lot of the professionals in law enforcement throughout the Valley are invested in this change and are willing to help if needed. So, hopefully it’s internally, that all the tools are there that we need. If not, then I’ll bring some folks in that I think are going to be the best fit to mesh with.

What types of changes are we going to see in the office? Will pink inmate underwear still be around? Tent City Jail?

Let’s work with the ones first that actually have value, from my perspective, outside looking in.

The posse is going to become something that I’m really excited about. We’re going to look at ways to expand it to incorporate younger men and women in that. And treat it in a way where it’s a resource to the community. We’re doing things like education on drug addiction … the big problems we have, heroin and OxyContin. Gun safety, home safety, (we'll be) addressing a lot of factors where they can be trained and certified and they go out in the community and train.

This is simplistic but, look at crime scenes. Sometimes you’ll see the news and the officers … around the perimeter just kind of stand there holding the scene. Well, trained posse members would go out there and relieve them, while working in partnership with other agencies, so those officers can go back in service.

Pets, animals, those issues, the MASH unit, are extremely important because we can’t allow for violent people in our community to harm our animal friends.

The Tent? I don’t know. I can’t answer to that until I really evaluate the efficiency of it, the cost of it, and the effectiveness. And then I’ll make a determination.

But I’m not attached to pink underwear. I’m not attached to pink handcuffs, I’m not attached to Tent City, unless for some reason it’s a benefit for this community. And when I see that, then we’ll stay with it. But when there’s an argument otherwise, I’ll make the appropriate decision at the appropriate time.