Sheriff Penzone: No ‘specific issues’ regarding 9/11 threats in metro Phoenix

PHOENIX – Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said there are no “specific issues” regarding potential threats in metro Phoenix related to Saturday’s 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“We don’t have any specific issues that have arisen the level of concern, but that doesn’t mean that we should not be vigilant every day of the year,” he told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday.

“And it doesn’t mean living in fear. It just means living with the understanding that since 9/11 we realize our vulnerability.”

Penzone, who was a Phoenix police officer on Sept. 11, 2001, said the attacks had an impact on the priorities for local law enforcement agencies.

“Prior to that we looked at what we would term traditional crime, law enforcement, whether it was state or local level,” he said. “We thought about the kind of things that happen in the neighborhoods.”

That changed after 9/11.

“It became more about being proactive to identify potential threats, to track their behaviors and their movements, to make sure that if there were any overt actions that were indicative of some type of act of terrorism that we could work with our federal partners to mitigate that stuff from happening and hold those accountable,” Penzone said.

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