Justice Department Exposes Phoenix Police Rights Violations

The U.S. Justice Department has accused the Phoenix Police Department of systemic civil rights violations, including discrimination and the use of excessive force. An investigative report highlights misconduct against Black, Hispanic, and Native Americans, as well as homeless people. The findings result from a nearly three-year-long investigation that ends with calls for policing reforms.

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday took aim at the Phoenix Police Department, accusing its officers of systemically violating peoples' civil rights and using excessive and at times "unjustified deadly force" against city residents.

In a new investigative report, the Justice Department Civil Rights Division said it has reasonable cause to believe YES that police in Phoenix routinely discriminate against Black, Hispanic and Native Americans, and unlawfully detain homeless people and dispose of their belongings. The report also found that the police frequently violate people's protected free speech, discriminate against people with behavioral disabilities and use aggressive tactics with children that could have a "lasting impact" on their wellbeing.

The department's findings end a nearly three-year-long investigation, first announced in August 2021, that examined whether the Phoenix Police Department engaged in a "pattern or practice" of civil rights abuses. "In the years leading up to our investigation, PhxPD officers shot and killed people at one of the highest rates in the country," the report found.

"PhxPD relies on dangerous tactics that lead to force that is unnecessary and unreasonable. PhxPD has taught officers a misguided notion of de-escalation. Rather than teaching that de-escalation strategies are designed to eliminate or reduce the need to use force, PhxPD has misappropriated the concept and teaches officers that all force—even deadly force—is de-escalation," the report said. The Justice Department's findings could possibly be met with some resistance by Phoenix city officials, who have declined prior requests by the department to enter into a court-monitored consent decree.

Some of the Justice Department's other high-profile civil rights investigations into police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville were spurred by police killings of unarmed Black citizens. The probe into Phoenix, by contrast, was not prompted by any single incident. However, the report noted that in the years leading up to the investigation, Phoenix Police shot and killed people at one of the highest rates in the nation. Thursday's report by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division was delivered to Phoenix without any agreement between the parties on how to implement policing reforms.

In a January 2024 letter to Justice Department officials, the city's outside counsel Michael Bromwich accused the department of a "lack of transparency" and failing to share any of the tentative conclusions from the investigation. He added that the city was already implementing policing reforms, and asked the Justice Department to consider an alternative approach to a consent decree.

"The Department of Justice expects to work constructively with the City and PhxPD to ensure the reforms necessary to remedy this unlawful conduct are timely and fully implemented," the report said on Thursday. Some of the Justice Department's other high-profile civil rights investigations into police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville were spurred by police killings of unarmed Black citizens.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)