The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is a law enforcement agency in Maricopa County, Arizona that was involved in a number of controversies. It is the largest sheriff's office in the state of Arizona and provides general and specialized law enforcement to unincorporated areas of Maricopa County, serving as the primary law enforcement for unincorporated areas of the county as well as incorporated cities within the county which have contracted with the agency for law-enforcement services. It also operates the county jail system. Elected in 2016, Paul Penzone is the current sheriff of Maricopa County. Penzone replaced Joe Arpaio after his 24-year tenure as sheriff.
According to The Washington Post, on August 17, 2010, the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division opened an inquiry into the Sheriff's Department in relation to alleged racism and abuse of power, as well as refusing to cooperate with a federal Justice Department investigation.[1]
On December 15, 2011, the U.S. Justice Department released its finding that the Sheriff's department repeatedly arrested Latinos illegally, abused them in the county jails and failed to investigate hundreds of sexual assaults. The Department of Homeland Security, reacting to the Justice Department report, revoked Maricopa County jail officers' authority to detain people on immigration charges. The Justice Department report found that the Sheriff's office carried out a blatant pattern of discrimination against Latinos and held a "systematic disregard" for the United States Constitution.[2] The department's racial profiling expert found the sheriff's office to be the most egregious case of profiling ever seen in the United States.[3]