Heroes in Business - Paul Penzone Candidate Maricopa County Sheriff

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

Paul Penzone Candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes show. They discuss what it takes to be Sheriff in Maricopa County Arizona, protecting the masses, and anti-bullying effort. Penzone a 20+ year veteran of law enforcement takes on Sheriff Joe Arpaio for the office. On retirement from the force, Penzone signed on as Vice President of ChildHelp, and organization dedicated to rescuing and protecting children from child abuse and neglect. The main goal is to put victims of abuse on the path to brighter days. Penzone was nominated by ChildHelp Phoenix President Stacey Weber. Visit ChildHelp dot org for more information.

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. Now, back to our super host, David Kogan, founder of Alliances. founder of alliances it just keeps getting better and better and i'll tell you this show is all about heroes those that are inventing creating and those that are protecting others now for our next hero this is one whose responsibility it was to protect you and i mean literally you see he was the phoenix police he was with the phoenix police department for 21 years and now is a candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff, Paul Penzone, that can be reached at penzone2016.com. That's P-E-N-Z-O-N-E 2016.com. Or, of course, you know you can go to the alliances.com website. Paul, I got to ask you though, what are the most important qualities one has to be able to have to be sheriff, which is a gigantic responsibility? It is, and I think it all begins with character and integrity because there are a lot of folks in law enforcement.

I'm fortunate and blessed that I've had the opportunity to be more public in my belief when it comes to keeping a community safe. my belief when it comes to keeping a community safe. But there are a lot of men and women in uniform whose names you'll never know, but they go to work every day with conviction, integrity, and ethics, and they work exceptionally hard. So there's a lot of talent when it comes to being the sheriff. I think that you have to have the match of character, and not being a character, but character along with skill set because the decisions you make affect an entire community, and you have to be convicted to hold the course,

to enforce the laws, and to do what's right for your community, not for yourself. And 21 years of being on the police force, I mean, that's a lot of time. You've certainly gained a lot of experience doing that. Have you ever, though, had to shoot someone or, for that matter, pull out your weapon or use a taser? Well, tasers came on the tail end of my career, so I was fortunate that I didn't have to get zapped or zap anyone. And I consider myself lucky. I couldn't tell you how many times I've had to draw my weapon.

I worked undercover for six years. I was involved in a lot of search warrants and things of that nature. As are a lot of officers, it's not uncommon to draw your weapon. I'm thankful that I never had to shoot someone myself. There were plenty of circumstances that came exceptionally close, but fortunately we were able to resolve them. I have been present to see, I'm going to say four or five shootings

where colleagues of mine, unfortunately, had to use lethal force. And it's unfortunate. It is not a choice. It's the lack of a choice. When you have no other options to subdue someone and you're forced because of their actions to take that action,

and it's a shame because the loss of life or even just that devastation is very traumatic. It's not like the movies. So we really need to work more on promoting peaceful resolution with our young adults because we see too many young men and women dying on our streets. I mean, let me ask you this, too, is with video cameras. By both police and citizens seem to be now everywhere. So many are divided by it. Yes, no, maybe so.

What are your thoughts on that? I think there are benefits and detriments. You know, the officers nowadays and the deputies, they live in a different world than I did. It is everything is captured on camera. And there are benefits to it from the aspect that officers can learn and be better at their job. It can help them in recalling details or acquiring evidence. And at the same time, it requires transparency. If you do something wrong, you misbehave, you're going to be captured on video

and you're held accountable, which is also a good thing. Where I think there are detriments is I don't want to see the day when babies dying or violence that we've seen becomes so commonplace for us to view that we become numb to how severe it is. The other aspect is I think that we're getting to a place where we're compiling issues. We see one officer who maybe does something that they shouldn't, malice or neglect or just bad judgment.

And then all of a sudden we take other incidents that maybe aren't judged on their individual merit and they're kind of packaged together, and then law enforcement is misrepresented. I have the utmost pride in what law enforcement stands for in the men and women who do the job. So we need to be fair to the process of evaluating them, understanding it is one of the most challenging jobs there is. I mean, you talk about challenge. You did an assignment with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. You were selected as the National Task Force Agent of the Year

when you led the federal wiretap investigation that really ultimately dismantled a large-scale manufacturing and distributing network in Arizona. We think we have stress, but nothing compares to what you do. What's the best way to decompress? I'm a man of faith and I do spend a lot of time just, uh, finding peace and prayer, knowing that the things that I do are meant to serve others, that you go to work and you have strength and conviction, but I would say never confuse kindness with weakness, be a kind person and be a strong person. And I have to realize why

I'm doing what I'm doing. I have a family. I have two beautiful sons. My wife is a business owner. And when I go home to them, I know that the sacrifices that need to be made are so that they can live in a world where they are safe as are other families. So if you do what you do because you believe to be the right thing, not for yourself, I think it's a lot more tolerable to deal with the challenges. Well, help us understand, what's the secret to being tough so as not to be taken advantage of, yet having to be gentle and kind, as you mentioned, so that you can help others? How do you do that?

How do you almost do both, right? Yeah, you have to know who you are and what you stand for. And as I stated earlier, have conviction. There are bad people out there that want to harm our families, that do bad things, that need to be held accountable, and someone's going to have to stand between them and those who are being victimized. So the strength comes in knowing why you're doing what you're doing, and that it's for the right reasons, believing in it. The compassion comes in understanding that if you're in a position where your family is victimized, or yourself, and, you know, putting

yourself on the other side of the table, I've spoken with hundreds of victims of horrific crimes. And to see through their eyes and understand if I were on that side of the table, what would I want from law enforcement? To have that compassion to understand that good people need strong people to stand by their side during the most traumatic times. You know, we just recently had a road rage incident on the freeway where a woman lost her life. It reflected me back into a very close friend of mine who lost her daughter that way many, many years ago, who's still a close friend of mine. When I met her, it was due to that tragedy. But through that tragedy, we become close friends. I know her family well, so know people for who they are and what they stand for and just ask the same for them that you would want for your own

family. And we're speaking with Paul Penzone. You could reach him at penzone2016.COM. That's P-E-N-Z-O-N-E 2016.com. He is candidate for Maricopa County Sheriff. You're listening to Alliance's Hero Show with David Kogan. Are you a hero? Go to where entrepreneurs align. Be part of the community. E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. Social media, Paul, help or hinder for law enforcement? I think it is much like it is for the youth of our nation. It is a help and a hindrance. I think when you use it for positive, when you use it to accomplish things and solve problems, then it's a good thing. Or build relationships in a positive way.

When you use it for bullying or to attack, you know, I say this, you know, very much tongue in cheek, which is when I was on the street as a cop and you knew who the bad guys were and what you were dealing with, it was actually something that I was more able to address than dealing with the nonsense I see on Facebook and through social network where people from their living rooms will say the most distasteful, untruthful things to hurt others. And we have to get away from that. It's not okay to bully from a pulpit when we try to teach our children, or not from a private place, when we try to teach our children what it means to treat each other

with respect. So we have to change the context and the narratives that's going on in social network. Well, let's talk about children and stuff. Your advice to children, things, skills that they may need to do now who want to eventually go into law enforcement or for that matter maybe be better citizens what would you say I think it starts with have the courage to stay true to who you are and when I when I say that I mean that every decision we make you know we're not gonna be perfect time. But understand that your decisions have implications. And if you want to stand for something greater, then know that when you take an action or when you speak of something,

that that's a reflection of who you are and what you stand for. So be responsible in how you go about that business and know that there's no greater, no matter what industry it is, in my opinion, there's no greater career than one of service when you're doing for others to make their lives better. And that might be, you know, when I retired, I went to work for ChildHelp, which is a nonprofit that cares for child victims. And I have the utmost pride in what that organization does, as I did in law enforcement. So know that when you give up your integrity, you can't get it back. There are a lot of things that you can do in life and get a return on. But if you give up your integrity and your character, you can't get those things back. So don't ever let anyone

take those from you or give them away for the wrong reasons. And you mentioned about ChildHelp. Thank you, too, to Stacey Weber, president of ChildHelp Phoenix, for nominating Paul to be on our hero show. Make sure you go to ChildHelp.org to learn more. Once again, that's ChildHelp.org to learn more. They do education and services for child victims of abuse and neglect. You can help them, again, going to Childhelp.org. One of the things, and we've got less than 30 seconds left, is law enforcement is so dangerous, especially with social media going on.

But you've addressed some of these things. Penzone2016.com someone who devotes their life to protecting the community, bringing criminals to justice, looks out for children and teaches them how to be safe and ensures their protection, that's a hero Paul Penzone, best of luck in the election and thank you

you're listening to Alliance's Hero Show with David Kogan and thank you to our producer, loopydocs.com You have been listening to Allianceiances Heroes, where heroes in business align. Alliances is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities, and startups. To present your superpower, visit www.alliances.com. To unmask Alliances Heroes' secret identities, be sure to tune in every Thursday at 9 a.m. right here on Money Radio 1510 and 99.3 FM.