Contempt hearing sought against Joe Arpaio’s successor

AP via MSN ^ | 11 Mar 2021 | JACQUES BILLEAUD

[blueplum]

PHOENIX (AP) — Paul Penzone took office four years ago as metro Phoenix's new sheriff promising to turn the page on the problems created by his headline-grabbing predecessor, Joe Arpaio — ousted in part after he was found in contempt of court for disobeying a judge's order in a racial profiling case.

Now Penzone faces calls for a contempt hearing in the same profiling lawsuit, this time for not complying with a court-ordered overhaul of his agency's much-criticized internal affairs operation, which has a backlog of 2,000 cases. Each one takes 500 days on average to complete...

...the sheriff’s office is required to investigate all complaints of officer misconduct, even those made anonymously....In the past, Penzone has said his office made warnings two years ago about the growing caseload.

[blueplum]

so Penzone was in the weeds two years into the job. I don't recall Sheriff Joe having that big a backlog.

[DannyTN]

I don't buy that it takes 500 days on average per case. I think they could get a handle on this if they tried. Make three stacks.

• Sort the cases by officer. And start looking at the officers who have the most complaints.
• Sort the anonymous complaints and look to see if there is a way to verify or discredit the complaint. Or if there is even enough info provided to investigate. I bet a lot of these complaints can be discharged quickly.
• Look for complaints that can be either backed up or refuted by video. Review those because they can probably be adjudicated quickly.

[DannyTN]

Stack 4. Consider the seriousness of the complaint. For those complaints that are not that serious, perhaps give department wide training and close all related complaints covered by the training.

Those that are serious need to have a more formal review.

But I understand sometimes drug dealers and criminals file false complaints to make the police back off or to get an effective officer discharged.

[pepsionice]

Various people from Phoenix will suggest that over the last decade of Arpaio...backlogs were starting to exist and be noticeable. I don’t know if the quantity equals the current mess, but I’d suggest it’s an overarching issue with crime and laws requiring a heck of a lot of time to settle.

I don’t think the current legal system (not just in Phoenix) is built to serve this many ‘customers’.

[Does so]

Alinsky: “Overload the system”.