5 takeaways from Sheriff Penzone, including updates on drug smuggling, low staffing in jails

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone told reporters on Wednesday his office is making progress on cracking down on deadly drugs in jails, staffing shortages, civil rights compliance and other areas, but big challenges remain.

Here are five key takeaways:

Drugs seizures continue to plague county jails

Penzone said the Sheriff's Office was making progress implementing a new employee body scanning program to screen staff entering the jails for drugs and contraband. The Sheriff's Office has purchased eight body scanners, similar to those used at airports, in an attempt to crack down on drug smuggling and to reduce overdose deaths.

An investigation into a Maricopa County correctional officer who was arrested in January on suspicion of attempting to smuggle fentanyl and methamphetamine into the Lower Buckeye Jail resulted in no charges against any accomplices, and Penzone said investigators believe the officer was acting alone. Penzone said there have been no staff arrests for smuggling or contraband since then, but the problem of staff smuggling is serious enough that the Sheriff's Office has devoted millions of dollars to combat it.

The eight scanners, purchased for more than $2 million, will be staffed by 46 employees hired specifically for the task. Penzone's previous estimate of $3 million annually to hire staff to operate the scanners was based on an estimate of 40 employees.

Penzone said there have been more than 1,000 fentanyl pills confiscated from April to July of 2023 in the jails that were brought in by incarcerated people. Those seizures resulted in 32 arrests and 63 felony charges.

Penzone announced that the Sheriff's Office and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office have created a special unit just to combat jail drug smuggling. Several prosecutors have been assigned to handle the cases.

Taking steps: Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone wants to use dogs, screenings to stop rising jail overdoses

In addition to scanning employees, the sheriff said he purchased four new drug-sniffing dogs. Penzone said the dogs and their handlers should be deployed by October.

Drug use in the jails is leading to serious injury and death. Penzone said 200 incarcerated people have been transported to emergency rooms for overdosing in the jails so far this year, resulting in eight deaths. A Sheriff's Office spokesperson said there were 18 drug-related deaths in the jails in 2022.

New motor squad to combat traffic deaths

Using funds from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, Penzone said the Sheriff's Office has purchased five motorcycles and two Ford Mustangs with "ghost markings" to establish a new motor squad.

"In order to be really a fully effective law enforcement agency, to target the issues of bad driving habits, and the recklessness that can occur on our roadways, we have to have a unit that is solely dedicated just to traffic enforcement," Penzone said.

The sheriff said he would make the squad available to other law enforcement agencies across the Valley.

"It is my goal to be extremely aggressive in addressing just everything that we see from the drag racing and the whole 'Fast and Furious' mentality," Penzone said. "It's unacceptable. It's dangerous, and it not only disrupts neighborhoods, but it causes accidents that take lives."

Costly compliance in the Melendres federal civil rights case drags on

The costs associated with court-mandated reforms over a racial profiling lawsuit filed 15 years ago against the Sheriff's Office reached a new milestone in May, totaling a quarter of a billion dollars, paid for by county taxpayers.

The case began in 2008 when Latino drivers sued the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, alleging they were racially profiled during traffic stops. U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow agreed, and in 2013 issued his first order mandating court oversight over the Sheriff's Office.

Since then, Snow has issued two more orders with additional mandates to reform the Sheriff's Office to weed out racial profiling, although ongoing traffic stop surveys continue to show racial disparities. Penzone inherited the lawsuit, as well as the court mandates and reforms when he took office in 2017 after ousting Arpaio.

Penzone said Wednesday that his office continues to make progress in attaining compliance, but did not estimate when it would be able to fully satisfy all of the requirements.

He said he believed his office was in compliance with more of the benchmarks in the orders than the court-ordered monitor was giving them credit for, and he intends to challenge some of the remaining noncompliance scores in court.

Lawsuit price tag: Racial profiling lawsuit, reforms for Maricopa County Sheriff's Office top $250M in costs

Penzone said his office continues to struggle with reducing the number of pending cases assigned to the agency's Professional Standards Bureau, the internal affairs investigation squad that examines allegations of deputy misconduct.

Penzone said he believed the backlog was down to about 1,700 cases, down from 1,930 reported in April. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors allocated nearly $1.8 million to hire additional investigators to help clear a backlog of pending complaints.

Penzone said his office was now staffed with more personnel assigned to internal affairs and court oversight than general crimes, "which doesn't sit well for me." He added his office was committed to meeting the court orders.

Fugitive Apprehension Tactical Enforcement Unit arresting violent felons

The Fugitive Apprehension Tactical Enforcement Unit has made 900 arrests since its inception in 2017.

"That's a pretty substantial number when you think about the fact that they target the most dangerous criminals in our community," Penzone said.

According to the Sheriff's Office website, the primary mission of the task force unit is to "locate and apprehend violent fugitives wanted on arrest warrants or probable cause."

Penzone said one of the recent arrests conducted by the task force was for Anthonie Ruinard Jr., 37, of Chandler, who was arrested in July and is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death and dismemberment of Parker League, 18.

Staffing vacancies still hindering safety, jail operations

Penzone said the Sheriff's Office has been struggling with staffing vacancies since the pandemic.

"It's detrimental to operations," Penzone said. "It doesn't matter if you're serving hamburgers, or you're trying to care for inmates, any business or organization that is short-staffed, that means that those who exist do twice the work."

He said there were approximately 30 vacancies before COVID-19, but now the office is facing close to 600. He called on retired military personnel to apply for the new positions of screening staff for contraband.

"If they are willing to come work for this organization, they would be welcomed with open arms," Penzone said.

Penzone said he's spent $2 million to $3 million in the last few years working with a private company "in addition to building and supplementing our recruitment team in the organization, on ways to rebrand, recruit target and incentivize people to come work here."

Arizona Republic reporter Rafael Carranza contributed to this story.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Drug smuggling, low staffing still challenges in Maricopa County jails