Phoenix police repeatedly violate civil rights and use excessive force, Justice Department says – The Mercury

By JACQUES BILLEAUD (Associated Press)

PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix police violate human rights in enforcing the law, discriminate against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans and use excessive force, including unjustified deadly force, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

The government found a “pattern or practice” of violations, saying police unlawfully detain homeless people, dispose of their belongings and discriminate against people with mental disorders when they call for help and respond to people in distress. And the Justice Department said Phoenix police violated the rights of people who advocate free speech.

The comprehensive investigation found “deep deficiencies” that had “concealed and perpetuated” problems for years, the report said.

The Justice Department said Phoenix officials enforced certain laws, including drug and minor offenses, more strictly against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans than against whites guilty of the same offenses.

Investigators found that Phoenix police “employ dangerous tactics that result in unnecessary and unreasonable violence.”

Phoenix police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement that the city received the findings when the Justice Department announced the report and that officials will meet on June 25 to seek legal advice and discuss next steps.

“I will review the results carefully and thoroughly before making any further comments,” she said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland called the release of the report “an important step toward accountability and transparency.”

“We are committed to working with the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department on meaningful reforms that protect the civil rights and safety of Phoenix residents and build trust between the police and the community,” he said in an emailed statement.

The federal agency could also take legal action if its efforts to reach a settlement – a reform plan that can be enforced through the courts – are unsuccessful, said Deputy Attorney General Kristen Clarke.

“We remain very confident that we can build on the successes we have achieved in other jurisdictions across our country and reach a settlement that contains the tough measures necessary to address the serious violations identified,” Clarke said.

Similar U.S. Department of Justice investigations in Albuquerque, Baltimore and elsewhere uncovered systematic problems involving excessive use of force and civil rights violations, in some cases leading to costly settlements that lasted for years.

This is the first time the department has released such findings regarding the treatment of Native Americans and the homeless, Clarke said.

Phoenix police have been criticized in recent years for their handling of protesters in 2020, the deaths of people detained by police officers and a high number of police shootings. Civil rights activists had complained that Phoenix police and prosecutors were targeting gangs as part of abusive political prosecutions aimed at silencing dissent and intimidating protesters.

A 2020 case accusing 15 protesters of belonging to an anti-police gang was dismissed because there was no credible evidence. In 2017, a “challenge coin” circulated among officers depicting a protester wearing a gas mask being shot in the groin with a pepper spray bullet. And in June 2019, cellphone video surfaced showing officers with guns confronting an unarmed black couple with two young children they suspected of shoplifting.

The mayor and City Council must act to correct these wrongs, said Poder In Action, an advocacy group for people of color and workers in Phoenix. The report’s findings are no surprise, the group said.

“We didn’t need 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 investigation began in August 2021. The Justice Department reviewed all police shootings in Phoenix from January 2019 to December 2022. The investigation found that police shoot people who do not pose an immediate threat and continue to fire their weapons when the people no longer pose a threat.

The report said some police shootings likely could have been avoided had officers not acted “recklessly.” Investigators also found that police “unduly delay” aid to those they shoot and use force against people who are unconscious or otherwise incapacitated.

The report also found that Phoenix police arrest homeless people without reasonable suspicion that they have committed a crime and illegally dispose of their belongings.

“A person’s constitutional rights are not limited by the lack of housing,” the report said.

The Justice Department has not focused on the city’s 911 calls. Although the city has invested $15 million to send non-police responders to mental health calls, it has not provided the necessary training to 911 call takers and dispatchers.

“Too often, they send police alone when it would be appropriate to send mental health personnel,” the Justice Department said. Officers assume that people with disabilities are dangerous and resort to force rather than pursuing de-escalation tactics. This leads to violence and criminal consequences for people with mental health disabilities rather than getting them help, the Justice Department said.

The Justice Department found that police used unjustified force against people who were handcuffed and accused of minor crimes.

“Officers resort to less-lethal force to quickly resolve situations, often when force is not necessary and without any meaningful attempt at de-escalation,” the report said.

Police are shooting projectiles at people without evidence that they pose an immediate threat, the report said, citing the case of a man accused of taking his mother’s car without permission.

“The man was leaving a laundromat when an officer immediately fired pepper balls at him and continued firing after the man was on his knees and curled up on the sidewalk,” the report said.

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Associated Press journalist Alanna Durkin Richer reported from Washington, DC