[ad_1]
The U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement it will investigate the Phoenix Police Department was met with a mix of support and skepticism.
Mayor Kate Gallego and City Council members who have supported reform said they welcomed the investigation, which Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division announced Thursday.
But the activists who have been pushing for more police accountability and stripping the Police Department of funding are less hopeful of what the investigation will bring. They are already well aware of the department’s problems — they want solutions, they said.
“Without significant action by Mayor Gallego and City Council to remedy these issues, the lasting legacy of the DOJ investigation will likely be another failed attempt to reign in the Phoenix Police Department, this time with a multi-million dollar price tag,” activist group Poder in Action said in a statement Thursday.
The Justice Department will investigate allegations against Phoenix police in five broad areas:
- Excessive use of force by its officers.
- Retaliation against protesters.
- Discriminatory policing practices.
- Response to people who have disabilities.
- Response to people who are experiencing homelessness.
Activists respond with skepticism
Jamaar Williams, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro, said the new investigation may do more to shine light on the problems in the community, but his group doesn’t expect it to immediately solve them.
“Does Phoenix Police violate our civil rights? Yes,” he said. “Do they abuse the homeless? Yes. Do they kill us unjustifiably? Yes. Do they cage us unjustifiably? Yes. … We aren’t trying to reform a police department we no longer believe in.”
Williams said that the only solution he sees is defunding the police department.
“We are done with reform measures,” he said. “If all the DOJ can promise is reform, we will be unsatisfied.”
Poder in Action, which has been helping lead the push for greater police accountability in Phoenix, said in a statement Thursday that it’s validating to hear that the problems with policing in Phoenix are being recognized at a national level.
The group believes that Gallego and the City Council have not just failed to address the issues but been “accomplices to Phoenix Police violence,” by refusing to recognize the root causes of issues and invest in solutions that don’t involve police.
But the organization is weary of the Justice Department’s investigation, saying these types of investigations “have a long history of being extremely costly to taxpayers, while increasing funding to police departments, recycling ineffective police reforms, and failing to end the killing of Black, Brown, Indigenous, poor, disabled, unsheltered and LGBTQ+ people.”
The organization said it is essential that the investigation assess the root causes of police interactions with the community and focus recommendations on community programs to address the causes.
“As long as Phoenix continues to create the conditions for BIPOC, poor, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities to be harassed, ticketed, and criminalized, police will continue to hurt and kill community members,” the organization wrote. “There is no magic combination of federal investigations, reports full of recommendations, changes to training, or new police leadership that will change that.” BIPOC is a term for “Black, Indigenous and people of color.”
Jacob Raiford, a lead organizer with W.E. Rising Project, which organized dozens of demonstrations against police brutality last summer, said an investigation was “inevitable” given concerns about police brutality, systemic racism, protestors being targeted by police and disparate treatment of people experiencing homelessness.
“Of course it’s eventually going to grab the Department of Justice’s attention,” he said. “This is the third city that is under the investigative magnifying glass. The DOJ is looking at Minneapolis and Louisville, where there have been serious issues, and that speaks to the issues that are taking place here.”
In response to the city’s news conference after the DOJ announcement, Raiford said it felt like Williams and the department weren’t taking the investigation seriously.
He said Williams didn’t acknowledge that there are civil rights issues that need to be addressed and instead said the department was doing a good job. He called it gaslighting and said he hopes the Justice Department “sees through it” and speaks with community members who have been affected by department practices.
Lola N’Sangou, executive director of Mass Liberation Arizona, said the DOJ “missed the mark” by not including the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in the investigation and not including community leaders in initial conversations. N’Sangou said members of the group showed up to a call Thursday with DOJ and city leaders to let them know they’re watching.
“We showed up and let them know about the glaring absence of community groups in the call and told them that they’re on notice,” N’Sangou said.
On Twitter, the local nonprofit civil rights organization likened the investigation to political theater and said it hopes the inquiry isn’t just for show.
“This investigation had better result in meaningful measures toward accountability,” the group said.
Mixed reactions from city officials
Mayor Kate Gallego said she supported the investigation. “The recommendations that will result from this review will assist us in our ongoing efforts to become an even safer, stronger, more equitable city,” she said.
She listed actions that the city has taken to improve police practices, such as banning the use of chokeholds, and emphasized the city’s creation of the new Office of Accountability and Transparency, which will have a civilian review board to review police misconduct cases.
Gallego, with the support of the council, expanded a program this year that will employ clinicians to respond to emergencies involving mental health crises.
Police Chief Jeri Williams said the Justice Department’s “inquiry” was another opportunity to further improve the Police Department.
“Wearing the badge is a privilege, not a right,” Williams said. “The majority of our officers out there act every day with professionalism and compassion … we’ve welcomed an outside assessment before and we welcome this one with open arms.”
Phoenix police chief, city manager react to DOJ investigation
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a civil rights probe into the Phoenix Police Department, including the agency’s use of force.
Phoenix Police Department, Arizona Republic
Vice Mayor Carlos Garcia, who has been the loudest voice on the council about the need for more accountability for police officers — and who has pushed alongside activists to reduce Police Department funding — said the investigation is “a clear message that this department is unfit to serve our community and further validates the violence and mistrust that our community has been experiencing.”
“The Council continues to disproportionately fund our police department more than other important services for our community,” Garcia said. “Again, I’m calling for us to invest in our community’s healthcare, mental health, trauma care, childcare, affordable housing, employment opportunities, and other everyday essentials our community needs.”
Councilmembers who have fought back on some city changes to policing, including the new civilian oversight board, said the probe is another unfair attack on police.
Councilmember Sal DiCiccio responded on Twitter, saying that the city’s Police Department “has been under extreme attack by activists bent on defunding the police.”
“I welcome another set of eyes to see what we already know: that we have a department staffed by dedicated individuals who go to great lengths to protect our community, and do so honorably and fairly,” DiCiccio wrote.
Councilmember Jim Waring said he believes the Police Department is “being unfairly singled out.”
Waring said the city has been making improvements to policing, and it should have more of an opportunity to do that internally. He doesn’t believe there are systemic issues in the Police Department, and he doesn’t believe that Phoenix issues are any greater than those in any other police department in the country.
“I am and remain a proud supporter of the men and women in the Phoenix Police Department,” Waring said. “That doesn’t mean every decision every individual makes is perfect.”
Waring said he is sure that some council members will be “gleeful,” about the announcement, and he thinks that’s wrong.
Councilmember Debra Stark said in a statement that trust is a vital component for police to build relationships with the community members who police officers swear to serve and protect. “My hope is the outcome of the investigation will help restore trust and increase accountability and transparency,” she said.
Councilmember Yassamin Ansari said she hoped the investigation would help strengthen public trust. She commended the Justice Department’s “focus on listening to community groups and families’ experiences with Phoenix PD, especially those with disabilities and who may be experiencing homelessness.”
Councilmember Ann O’Brien emphasized that she stands “with our men and women in blue.” She said the city is already facing a shortage of police officers. “I shudder to think what this ‘investigation’ will do to the morale of our officers,” she said.
Mary Rose Wilcox, a former Phoenix City Council member who was the first Latina elected to the council and later the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said Phoenix should not shy away from federal scrutiny.
Concerns about the Police Department should be addressed, she said, and she added that Chief Williams has been open to such reviews and has been cooperative in the past.
“We shouldn’t be afraid of it. We should welcome it,” Wilcox said. “We can learn from this.”
State, national leaders weigh in
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., said that people deserve to have confidence in local law enforcement, who are responsible for keeping our communities safe and secure. She said she expects the Justice Department’s investigation will be “professional, thorough, and — above all — independent and free from politics.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said both of his parents were police officers and, growing up, he “saw them serve their community while doing a difficult job.”
“All communities deserve accountable, transparent law enforcement,” Kelly said. “The Department of Justice has initiated this process, and it’s important that it remain independent.”
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in a statement that activities within police departments from coast to coast merit close examination of policing policies, police behavior and law enforcement reform.
Phoenix’s department, he said, has made some improvements but more must be made. Gallego voted in March to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, aimed at ushering in police reform measures in the wake of national uprising against racial injustice and police brutality.
He said he is confident the review will be transparent “and rooted in a commitment to improve public safety for all communities, including communities of color.”
“Accountability must be the rule, not the exception, and I know the people of my district share this commitment.”
Arizona House Minority Leader Reginald Bolding, D-Phoenix, applauded the move as a way to hold police accountable. Bolding is the only Black member of the Democratic caucuses at the Legislature.
He expressed support for daily police efforts that keep communities safe but added that doesn’t negate actions that increase suspicion of police activities.
“… nobody should turn a blind eye to serious allegations of excessive force, mass arrests of peaceful protestors followed by trumped-up charges of gang crimes and the unwarranted surveillance of activist communities that prompted this investigation,” Bolding, D-Phoenix, said in a statement.
At the Legislature, Bolding has pushed for outside oversight in use-of-force cases but has been unsuccessful in getting such legislation passed.
Tom Perez, the former assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights under former President Barack Obama, pursued cases against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio for what the Justice Department said was racial profiling of Latinos. He has been involved in dozens of “pattern or practice” investigations.
Broadly, he said, the goal of the inquiries is to look at the departments from top to bottom to examine systemic issues, cultural challenges, training problems and internal mechanisms for accountability. Such probes also examine whether the community has a meaningful role in the department’s policing.
“They’ll conduct dozens, if not hundreds, of interviews,” said Perez, also the former chair of the Democratic National Committee who is now running for governor in Maryland.
“When we did Maricopa County, we spoke to so many people, and frankly, some of the deputy sheriffs were our most helpful witnesses … I hope people look at it as an opportunity to have honest dialogue of what can be done better.”
These types of investigations, he said, are comprehensive and time-consuming.
“The goal here is to really figure out what the challenges are and what the solutions are.”
Republic reporters Chelsea Curtis, Mary Jo Pitzl, Paulina Pineda and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez contributed to this story.
Reach the reporter at [email protected] or at 602-444-8763. Follow her on Twitter @JenAFifield.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
[ad_2]
Source link