Patrick Melvin has over thirty years’ experience in Arizona Law Enforcement including positions in the Phoenix Police Department and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department.
Until last year, he had served as the Chief of Police for Maricopa just south of Phoenix and Chandler in Pinal County.
Chief Melvin has decided to apply his vast experience and run for Pinal County Sheriff this year.
If elected, he will strive to build an accessible new culture, through the accreditation process and community outreach, that will inspire confidence in the Sheriff’s office and attract businesses and more residents to the growing county.
Chief Melvin graciously took the time to respond to questions about his candidacy for Pinal County Sheriff.
The questions and is responses are below.
• Please tell the readers two reasons why you would like to be the Pinal County Sheriff.
“I have the experience and competence to lead an agency. I don’t just speak about what I’m going to do, I also mention my experiences as the CEO of a law enforcement organization. Not only have I been a police chief, but I’ve been a police chief in three different agencies. So I plan to bring that experience to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, I feel that Pinal County needs an experienced leader and that’s one of the main reasons. I feel I have the experience and competence to train my deputies.”
“I’ve also talked about times when I go into the community and build trust and demonstrate transparency. Well, I’ve experienced that. I’ve actually done that.”
“My opponent is, is saying all the stuff that he’s going to keep the same way of as our current Sheriff. Well, I speak of the future and different innovative ways that I can bring to the Sheriff’s Office. That’s one thing.”
“Number two, I think that with my 12 years of experience working in municipal and tribal policing. Additionally, I retired from the city of Phoenix after 21 years as a commander. I have worked in Tribal policing. In the city of Maricopa, I was the very first police chief here. My badge number was 001 and I was recruited from the Phoenix PD to build that Police Department from the ground up. So, I bring that experience and then from there, I went to the tribal policing. We have at least three Tribal communities surrounding Pinal County. So I have experience with the Ak Chin Community, who I have already made contact with their chairman. The Gila River Community. I made contact with the governor and spoke at their Council meeting already. I think that experience is very much necessary. I think Tribal Community’s have been overlooked for a long time and it is my commitment to build relationships with the community, I understand sovereignty and how that works. And I bring that experience.”
“Third, I have out of state experience. I worked in an agency in which I was recruited to build and change the culture of an agency. And that’s what the Pinal County Sheriffs Department, in my opinion, needs. We need the cultural change; that we treat everyone with dignity and respect, privacy, and decency. And then after that, I obtained experience with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office at the deputy chief level there. So, I have those experiences and all that I believe is necessary to be a competent and well experienced sheriff.”
“I have also I’ve done succession training in the past and I think that’s very important to be able to train up your staff and people around you so that they can deliver the best services throughout our large Pinal County.”
“Professionalism is very important. When I first came to Pinal County as a police chief in 2006, it seemed as if Pinal County was a little bit behind the times regarding professionalism, technology, etc. One of the experiences my opponent says is that he is the only candidate with internal experience with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. Well, I have experience as a police chief in Pinal County but I think sometimes it’s good to have an outside person to come in that can see what the issues are with an open mind, not used to the culture here. I don’t have a problem with adapting. I want to see what the issues are and I’m not afraid to make the hard decisions to change. To go in a different direction or to take what we have, build upon that, and then go into a more positive direction.”
“Also, when I’m out in the community talking to community members, they tell me different things that they’d like to see in the Sheriff’s Office and I feel I have the ability and the experience to turn experience into action so that we can provide the best services for safety to our community members here.”
• What are at least two reasons voters to choose you over your opponent? Please explain.
“Well, I am still involved in policing. I was a national president of a police chief organization. I still have those contacts. When I was a police chief here in Arizona, I was on the board of the Arizona Chiefs Police Association. I’ve also been on the board of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.”
“My opponent does not have the experience. He’s a lieutenant and trust me, I was a lieutenant. I got promoted to Lieutenant with the Phoenix Police Department back in the year 2000, Y2K time period. I think being a Lieutenant is a very important position, but your platform shouldn’t be only, “I’m endorsed by the current Sheriff.” Well, being endorsed by the current Sheriff, does not substitute for a candidates lack of experience and that’s what I bring. I bring experience and competency. I don’t talk about what I will do or if I had the opportunity to do this. I will talk about experiences that I’ve had.”
“I’ve noticed being a police chief in three different agencies for a total of 12 years as a police chief, you don’t take one template and take it into another agency. I have the ability to lead by walking around. To listen to people. To hear what they have to say and then find the best solutions for that agency.”
“I have done a budget. I have managed a budget. Unfortunately, I have had to terminate employees as the decision maker, as the CEO of the organization. As a lieutenant, you don’t have that experience or authority. As the agency CEO, I determine the direction we are going. It’s all about accountability and transparency. I will lead in such a way that the citizens and the residents want in Pinal County. But also, when you’re trying to be a professional agency, that is some of the things you bring forth. But my opponent has said “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If you’re an inside person, you don’t really see what might be wrong. I think the eyes of the outside and listening to the community, they will tell you what’s wrong. And if you’re open to it, you can make corrections. They (PCSO) have not had a comprehensive audit of the agency in over 16 years. As a police chief, the first thing you do when you go into an agency is you inspect what you expect. You do a complete agency-wide audit to see where you are, see what improvements you got to make and then make a plan to start fixing those things. I talk about accreditation a lot.”
“My opponent has not mentioned his plan or leadership Vision. My leadership vision is all about accountability and accreditation. When you have accreditation, you have best practices from throughout the country. Every agency I’ve gone to, I’ve initiated some type of either state accreditation or national accreditation. Maricopa Police Department. Nationally accredited. Phoenix Police Department. Nationally accredited. When I was in Texas, I started the state of accreditation process and did a total policy rewrite to get us going in the right direction to get the most professional policies so that our officers and deputies will have the blueprint to treat people the appropriate way.”
“I’m an instructor. I’m a teacher, I’m a professor. I’ve taught at the United States Virgin Islands University. I’ve taught at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Gaberone, Botswana. I’ve taught at the community college level. One of the things I’d like to do is to strengthen the law enforcement and criminal justice programs at the community college level and at the State University level. Because there is a national recruiting challenge. It’s a challenge right now to recruit competent staff. Well, when you develop relationships with community colleges and you develop relationships with the universities, that’s how you get people, and you start developing your reputation. I want all the people in the agency, both our civilians and our deputies sworn staff to be ambassadors for our agency. Everyone can be an ambassador and that will help in the recruiting process.”
“I think if you want a competent person, who’s transparent, who believes in accountability, including accountability for myself personally. Because right now, you don’t really see accountability from the leader, or from the leadership. No one’s immune from accountability. That’s been my philosophy for years. That includes myself too. I’m going to hold myself accountable. I’m going to hold my staff accountable. And I want the community to hold us accountable. That starts with trust and transparency. And that’s what I bring.”
“My opponent has not been talking, you know, the vision where he sees how the deputies are going to treat people. I believe in putting people before partisanship. That’s a pet peeve of mine. I believe in public safety. Partisanship should not be a part of public safety. When you call 911, there’s not people that say, excuse me sir or ma’am what political party do you belong to know? They don’t say that. They say, what is your emergency? And how can we get there faster?”
“We like diversity. There are leaders that are Republicans and there’s leaders that are Democrats. There are leaders that are Independents. It takes all leaders to lead a professional agency and I’m going to utilize the best people for the positions to make sure we’re delivering the best services. That’s another reason I should be chosen ahead of my opponent.”
“Partisanship should not be a part of public safety and I’m going to lead that way.
• Please describe your voter turnout operation. How will your campaign appeal to Independents and like-minded Republicans?
“The more I can get out, to make contact with the people in the county to hear my story, to hear my vision, and to hear my plan for the future of public safety in Pinal County is the best. I have an excellent campaign staff. We’ve made a commitment that every weekend and some weekdays, from this point out we’re going to be canvassing and making community contacts. When canvasing, I’m talking about making contact with thecommunity, talking to the community, and hearing how they want to be policed.”
“I’m a faith-based leader and my pastor has allowed me on the third Sundays every month to go out and visit different religious institutions in our county. I want to people to know that when I become the sheriff, that they’ll have accessibility to the sheriff. You make relationships in calm times. I experienced this as a police chief. You don’t wait until emergencies come. You make relationships and you make networking opportunities, in calm times so when there’s a chaotic situation or an emergency, those relationships are already built. And I’m going to continue to do that. We’re going to make sure that people know who we are. We’re going to keep making contact in the community. We want people to know that in me at the leadership helm of the sheriff’s office, that you’ll have a leader who is accessible. That they’ll even believe in proactive policing, accountability, and accreditation. Trust is very important. And I want to make sure that people trust us. And the way people trust you, as you make relationships, you go out and network, and talk to people. I actually still give out my personal cell phone because if people have an issue or they have problem, I want them to be able to reach out to the sheriff, or in my past, it was the police chief. So that we can deal with situations and challenges and problems when they’re small, so they don’t become big giant issues. And I’m going to continue to do that.”
- Is there anything not covered in the first three questions that you would like the readers to know about you and your candidacy for Pinal County Sheriff? Please explain.
“I have this philosophy. Several years ago, there used to be a, a police academy in Pinal County which was located at Central Arizona College. I’ve already made contact with Arizona POST. Arizona POST is the police officer and standards and training certifying agency for the state of Arizona. And I’ve already made contact with them to let them know my intention of wanting to open that police academy back up. You know, I have a philosophy of hire here, retire here, and like I mentioned earlier, with all of the recruiting that’s going on around the country, it’s hard to get competent, professional staff to join your agency. By having a Police Academy open, again in Pinal County, I think that’s very important. So I will strive towards seeing what it takes the reopen that Academy so that we can get people that are a lot of times homegrown in Pinal County or in thesurrounding areas so that they can come help us, and provide Public Safety Services.”
“I have relationships with agencies here in the valley and the rest of Arizona. And sometimes, if our budget doesn’t allow us for training and technology to be able to train and to send people to training, those relationships are built with other police chiefs, will allow me to send my deputies to different agencies where they’re having training to save on our budget.”“I want people to know that I believe in law enforcement. I believe in the rule of law. I believe that if you commit a crime, you should be held accountable for that, regardless of what party you are, regardless of what color you are, regardless of what ethnic, background, you have. If you commit a crime, you should be held accountable.”
“I will be a professional public servant and I will give the residents the sheriff’s office that they will are proud of with accreditation. When we’re talking accreditation, it goes not just for law enforcement, but it goes for economic development. Pinal County is one of the fastest growing counties in the country, and businesses will look to see the professionalism of the law enforcement agency before they decide to move their business to the area. Accreditation helps in that area. They need to know there is a competent Sheriff’s Office that solves crimes, follows accredited procedures, has a good relationship with the public and business community, is accessible and holds themselves accountable with appropriate internal mechanisms.”“I talked about politics and or non-partisanship and no politics in law enforcement. I think that’s very important. People are not looking for someone that’s so far to one side and feels they’re above the law.”“I want the people to be proud of our agency, and I want them to tell their friends, so that they might want to move to Pinal County. Also, like I mentioned, I have a hire here, retire here perspective. Retention is very important. I’m going to keep the staff that we have and build upon that staff. But I also want to be able to recruit professionally.”“Pinal County is our home. My family has been here since 2006. I want the people to be safe and secure in their communities, and feel that they are protected by a professional agency“That’s what I will bring if elected to the Sheriff’s Office.”
Please click here for more information about Patrick Melvin and his candidacy for Pinal County Sheriff.
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