When the Phoenix City Council earlier this year approved a civilian oversight office that would investigate police shootings and excessive force claims, advocates and family members of police violence victims cheered.

It’s the type of accountability that Phoenix needed to have a transparent police department, advocates said at the time.

Now, with a proposed ordinance drafted, those supporters say the office will not do what Councilman Carlos García had promised it would do and they can’t support it like they once did.

The drafted ordinance says the Office of Accountability and Transparency will “monitor or participate” in the Phoenix Police Department’s internal affairs investigations into police shootings and arrest-related deaths.

It does not say it will conduct its own investigations or interview police officers independently.

The phrasing “monitor or participate” has neutered the office, advocates say.

García, who had advocated for this office, said the draft ordinance is interpreted differently by different people, but it is still a breakthrough from the current process of officers investigating fellow officers in police misconduct cases.

“I would love for it to have more investigative powers,” he said. “But this is the closest we could get to without having to change city or state codes.”

It was unclear how municipal or state laws would affect the office, but García said the current police union contract doesn’t allow for non-police investigators to question an officers’ actions during an administrative investigation.

Still, he said the ordinance even as currently written is a win because the civilian oversight office will be able to sit in on the internal affairs’ investigative interviews.

He said he recognizes the office will not be perfect but that “it’s a good starting point.”

“Eventually, we’re going to realize that (the office) OAT will need more tools to complete an investigation,” he said.

The draft ordinance was presented to the City Council during a meeting in September and again on Tuesday. The latest draft has some changes stemming from the September meeting but both drafts say the office will “monitor or participate” in investigations.

“You guys say you want transparency, you want the public to trust you,” Anna Hernández, whose brother was shot and killed by Phoenix police in 2019, told the council at Tuesday’s meeting. “Yet, behind closed doors, you do things to eliminate that trust that we fought so hard for.

“Eliminating the investigative independent piece of this, it’s just destructive to any progress that we’re trying to achieve.”

The mothers and sisters of Ryan Whitaker, Alejandro Hernández and James García, men who were shot and killed by Phoenix police officers, wrote a letter to the council criticizing the proposed ordinance.

“If truly independent investigations and community participation is going to be excluded from this civilian oversight policy, we cannot support it,” the letter says. “We cannot afford to settle for toothless processes that give the illusion of accountability and transparency, but do nothing to change the reality.”

In February, the City Council approved García’s proposal over Mayor Kate Gallego’s proposal, which also would not have had investigative powers. 

In June, the council approved a $1.3 billion budget that included $3 million for the Office of Accountability and Transparency.

The council has not yet approved the ordinance. Depending on a final draft, the ordinance would determine what qualifications a director needs, how many staff members the office will hire and what powers the office would have.

As of right now, the draft says that no former law enforcement officer from any agency would qualify for the job. It also disqualifies any lawyers who have sued the Phoenix Police Department from being considered for a position in the office. 

‘We need a fundamental change’

The newly created office will not replace the Police Department’s current process of investigating claims of wrongdoing.

Currently, when someone makes a claim of excessive force or any other type of police misconduct, the Police Department’s Professional Standards Bureau conducts an administrative investigation.

If the bureau finds there was employee misconduct, investigators can refer the case to the department’s Disciplinary Review Board, which is chaired by an assistant police chief and has six additional members, including two officers, two civilians and two police commanders.

After reviewing the case, the board makes a disciplinary recommendation to the police chief, who ultimately decides any punishment.

The employee has the right to appeal to the city’s five-member Civil Service Board, which will sustain the punishment or reduce the punishment. In the case of the employee being fired, the board can give him or her their job back.

The importance of independent investigations

Heather Hamel, a Phoenix attorney who has represented people who have been victims of police violence, told council members many people supported the Office of Accountability and Transparency, or OAT as some people refer to it, because the community believed it would have independent investigative power.

“A few months ago, when OAT got approved, it got community support and community backing because we were all under the impression that it was going to be transparent, investigative and community-driven,” Hamel said. “I’m very disappointed that the city took out all the community suggestions, went behind closed doors and completely changed the policy the community backed.” 

Katie Baeza, Whitaker’s sister, told the council Tuesday the current process was flawed. “We need a fundamental change in the way investigations into the use of force and police misconduct are handled. Otherwise, why are we spending $3 million to establish the office?” she said.

Ben Laughlin, an organizer with the advocacy group Poder in Action, said the ordinance as it is written only will be a “rubber stamp” for police investigations.

“We’ve been in ongoing conversations with Councilman García, and he knows where we stand on the policy and that we won’t be able to support it,” Laughlin said.

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