Justice Department investigation finds Phoenix police discriminate against minorities and use excessive force

The Justice Department on Thursday announced the results of a years-long investigation that found Phoenix police used excessive force and behaved in a manner that violated human rights and discriminated against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans.

The Justice Department found a “pattern or practice” of these violations, saying that police frequently stop, detain, and arrest homeless people without reasonable suspicion that they have committed a crime. The city of Phoenix and its police department confiscate and destroy the property of homeless people without giving them timely notice or an opportunity to pick up their belongings, according to the Justice Department.

The findings were announced by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

“This finding is historic,” Clarke said. “This is the first time the Department of Justice has found violations of the civil and constitutional rights of homeless people.”

The agency also said police routinely treat minorities differently by discriminating against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans when enforcing the law. Police are also accused of violating the rights of people who profess free speech and expression.

The city and police also discriminate against people with mental disorders when they forward calls for help and respond to people in crisis, the Justice Department said.

“The Police Department claims it was unaware of these significant racial disparities, but long-standing and frequently expressed community concerns about discriminatory policing as well as blatant bias within the police force should have prompted the department to analyze its own data,” Clarke said. “Instead, the Police Department ignored the data, ignored these unequivocal warnings, and failed to expose its own discriminatory policing.”

Clarke said civil rights lawyers conducted hours of interviews, participated in follow-up drives, reviewed thousands of documents and watched hundreds of hours of body-worn camera video to reach the findings.

The Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation into the Phoenix Police Department in 2021.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the time that such investigations were aimed at increasing public trust and public safety by identifying systemic problems.

“The findings we have made are serious,” Clarke said.