Darrell Kriplean, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents about 2,200 Phoenix police officers, stood at a podium during a news conference in Phoenix on Thursday and answered questions with a microphone. A Justice Department report said Phoenix police discriminated against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, illegally detained homeless people and used excessive force, including unreasonable and deadly force.
Ross Franklin/AP
hide title
Switch title
Ross Franklin/AP
PHOENIX — Phoenix police officers discriminated against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, illegally detained homeless people and used excessive force, including unreasonable deadly force, according to a sweeping federal civil rights investigation into law enforcement in the nation’s fifth-largest city.
Investigators found clear racial disparities in how Phoenix Police Department officers enforced certain laws, including low-level drug and traffic offenses, a U.S. Department of Justice report released Thursday said. Investigators found that Phoenix police officers shot at people who did not pose an imminent threat, fired after the threat was eliminated, and often delayed medical care for people injured in clashes with police.
The report did not mention whether the federal government is pursuing a court-enforced reform program known as a “consent decree” – a process that is often costly and lengthy – but Justice Department officials told reporters that in similar cases it has methods have been used to carry out reforms.
Phoenix police did not immediately comment on the report, referring questions to the city. But a senior police union official called the Justice Department investigation a “farce” and warned the consent decree would hurt police morale.
“The Department of Justice is not interested in making local police departments and the communities they serve better,” said Darrell Kriplean, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents about 2,200 police officers. “This action “It’s clear that they just want to take away control of the communities that local police serve through consent decrees.”
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement that city officials will meet on June 25 to obtain legal advice and discuss next steps.
“I will carefully and thoroughly review the findings before making further comment,” she said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland called the report “an important step toward accountability and transparency.” He said in an email that this underscores the department’s commitment to “making meaningful reforms that protect the civil rights and safety of Phoenix residents and strengthen police and community trust.”
‘Overwhelming statistical evidence’ shows disparity caused by discrimination
The Justice Department says Phoenix police enforce certain laws more harshly against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans than against whites engaging in the same behavior, such as low-level drug and traffic offenses, loitering and trespassing.
For example, black people in the city are more than 3.5 times more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for failing to signal before turning, the report said. Hispanic drivers are more than 50 percent more likely than white drivers to be cited or arrested for speeding near school cameras. On a per capita basis, Native Americans are more than 44 times more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for possession and alcohol consumption.
Officers investigating drug-related crimes were also 27 percent more likely to release white people in 30 minutes or less, but Native Americans accused of the same crime were detained longer, the department said. Native Americans were 14 percent more likely to be booked for trespassing, while officials cited or released white people charged with the same crime.
The Justice Department said there was “overwhelming statistical evidence” that the disparity was due to discrimination.
Assistant Attorney General Christine Clark, who oversees the Justice Department’s civil rights division, criticized Phoenix for “over-policing” homeless people, including making arrests without reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. According to reports, more than one-third of the misdemeanor arrests and citations made by the Phoenix Police Department were against homeless people. The U.S. Department of Justice investigation began in August 2021.
If the Department of Justice’s efforts to obtain a consent order are unsuccessful, litigation is an option.
“We remain very hopeful that we can build on the successful record achieved in other jurisdictions across the country and develop a consent order that contains the powerful drugs needed to address the serious violations identified,” Clark said.
Phoenix police officers watch as protesters gather during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd on June 2, 2020.
Matt York/AP
hide title
Switch title
Matt York/AP
Similar U.S. Justice Department investigations in Albuquerque, Baltimore and elsewhere have uncovered systemic problems related to excessive use of force and violations of civil rights, some of which resulted in costly consent decrees that lasted for years.
In Phoenix, a 2020 case charging 15 protesters with joining an anti-police gang was dismissed for lack of credible evidence; in 2017, a “challenge coin” circulated among police depicting a demonstrator wearing a gas mask A victim was shot in the groin with a projectile; in June 2019, cell phone video showed police pointing guns at an unarmed black couple as they brought two young children suspected of shoplifting.
Poder In Action, a Phoenix-based organization that advocates for people of color and workers, said the findings were not surprising.
“We never needed a Justice Department investigation to tell us this,” the group said in a statement. “The data and residents’ stories have been telling us this for years.”
The report said some police shootings occurred due to “reckless tactics” by officers who “unreasonably delayed” providing aid to people who were shot and used force against those who were unconscious or incapacitated.
In one incident, police waited more than nine minutes to provide aid to a woman who was shot 10 times by police, the Justice Department said. The woman is dead.
The investigation focuses on the city’s 911 operations. Although the city of Phoenix has invested $15 million to deploy non-police personnel to respond to mental health calls, the city has yet to provide the necessary training to 911 call takers and dispatchers.
The Justice Department said officers believed people with disabilities were dangerous and therefore resorted to force rather than de-escalation tactics, resulting in people with behavioral health disorders experiencing force and criminal consequences instead of providing them with care.
