The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is making significant progress in its plan to ensure posse members go through appropriate background checks.

As of Feb. 28, 350 individuals have indicated they are willing to continue serving their community as posse members and are actively involved in completing the background process.

In Sun City West, 62 posse members have completed their background, with an anticipated reinstatement date of March 15 for all individual posse members who pass through the process. This is ahead of the 60-day timeframe Sheriff Penzone announced in January.

All posse members involved in Search and Rescue duties have been invited to complete a background interview.

Qualified Armed Posse members will be invited to interview on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9, with scheduling beginning this past weekend.

Backgrounds will also be conducted on March 22, 23, 29, and 30 to ensure all posse members have an opportunity to enter the interview process by March 30.

Sheriff Penzone and his staff extend their gratitude to these volunteer posse members, who have given their time and expertise to assist their community. The posse groups are unique service organizations and MCSO will continue to invest in their success, according to Penzone.