PHOENIX The sheriff of metro Phoenix will not contest a claim that he is in civil contempt of court in the same racial profiling case in which his predecessor,…
PHOENIX (AP) — The sheriff of metro Phoenix will not contest a claim that he is in civil contempt of court in the same racial profiling case in which his
Paul Penzone in 2017.
A judge is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday over whether the sheriff of Maricopa County, like his predecessor Joe Arpaio, should face a contempt of court hearing in a longstanding racial profiling case against the sheriff’s office.
The lawyers who won the racial profiling case eight years ago are now arguing Sheriff Paul Penzone should face a civil contempt hearing for not complying with a court-ordered overhaul of his agency’s much-criticized internal affairs operation, which has a backlog of 1,800 cases, each taking an average of 500 days to complete.
They say Penzone is out of compliance with a requirement that internal investigations be completed within 60 or 85 days, depending upon which operation within the agency handles the cases.