Investigations show that Phoenix police repeatedly violate civil rights

PHOENIX (AP) – Phoenix police discriminate against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, illegally detain homeless people and use excessive force, including unjustified deadly force, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

A comprehensive government investigation uncovered a series of civil rights violations by police in the nation’s fifth-largest city. Investigators found that there were glaring racial disparities in the enforcement of certain laws, such as minor drug and traffic offenses.

The Justice Department found that police in Phoenix shoot people who pose no immediate threat and continue to shoot even after the threat has been eliminated. Police also regularly delay medical attention to people during confrontations and use excessive force against those who are injured, officials said.

Phoenix police did not immediately respond to the Justice Department’s report, referring further questions to the city. But a senior police union official called the Justice Department’s investigation a “farce.” Subjecting Phoenix police to a settlement – a court-enforced plan for reform – would damage officer morale, said Darrell Kriplean, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents about 2,200 officers.

“The Department of Justice is not interested in improving local police departments and the communities they serve,” Kriplean said. “This action shows that it is only interested in using settlements to take control of local police away from the communities they serve.”

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement that the city received the findings when the Justice Department announced the report and officials would 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 email.

The Justice Department said police enforce certain laws – such as minor drug and traffic offenses, loitering and trespassing – more strictly against blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans than against whites who commit the same offenses.

Black people in the city, for example, are more than 3.5 times more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for failing to use a turn signal, the report says. Hispanic drivers are more than 50 percent more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for speeding near security cameras in school zones. And Native Americans are more than 44 times more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for possession or consumption of alcohol on a per capita basis than white people.

Officers investigating drug offenses were also 27 percent more likely to release white people in 30 minutes or less, while Native people charged with the same offense were detained longer, the agency said. And Native people were 14 percent more likely to be arrested for trespassing, while officers cited or released white people stopped for the same offense.

There is “overwhelming statistical evidence” that the inequalities are due to discrimination, the Justice Department said.

This is the first time the department has announced such findings regarding the treatment of Native Americans and the homeless, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Clarke criticized the city for “over-policing” the homeless, saying officers often arrest homeless people without reasonable suspicion that they have committed a crime. More than a third of Phoenix police arrests and citations for misdemeanors involved homeless people, the report said.

The investigation began in August 2021. Phoenix police have been criticized for their handling of protesters in 2020, the deaths of people detained by officers, and a high number of officer-involved shootings. Civil rights activists had complained that Phoenix police and prosecutors were pursuing gang-related charges as part of abusive political prosecutions aimed at silencing dissent and intimidating protesters.

If the Justice Department’s efforts to reach a settlement are unsuccessful, there is the possibility of litigation.

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

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

In Phoenix, 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 police officers depicting a protester wearing a gas mask being shot in the groin with a projectile. And in June 2019, cellphone video surfaced showing police officers using guns as they confronted an unarmed black couple with two young children they suspected of shoplifting.

Poder In Action, an advocacy group for people of color and workers in Phoenix, said the results were no surprise.

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

In one case, police waited more than nine minutes before rendering aid to a woman who was lying on the ground after officers shot her 10 times, the Justice Department said. The woman died.

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.

Officers assume that people with disabilities are dangerous and are more likely to resort to force rather than de-escalation tactics. This results in people with mental disorders experiencing violence and criminal consequences rather than getting them help, according to the Justice Department.