6/27/24, 4:52 PM Phoenix police violate civil rights, use excessive force, Justice Department says - Los Angeles

tment says - Los Angeles Times

WORLD & NATION

Phoenix police have pattern of violating civil rights and using

excessive force, Justice Department says

Phoenix police stand in a line during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd four years ago. Phoenix police violate
people’s rights, discriminate against Black, Latino and Native American people when enforcing the law and use excessive
force, the U.S. Justice Department said. (Matt York / Associated Press)

By Jacques Billeaud

June 13, 2024 Updated 2:07 PM PT

PHOENIX — Phoenix police discriminate against Black, Latino and Native American
people, unlawfully detain homeless people and use excessive force, including unjustified
deadly force, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-13/phoenix-police-have-pattern-of-violating-civil-rights-and-using-excessive-force-justice-dept-says 1/7
6/27/24, 4:52 PM Phoenix police violate civil rights, use excessive force, Justice Department says - Los Angeles Times

A sweeping government investigation uncovered a host of civil rights violations by the

police force in the nation’s fifth most populous city. Investigators found stark racial
disparities in how officers enforce certain laws, such as low-level drug and traffic
offenses.

The Justice Department found that Phoenix police shoot at people who do not
immediately pose a threat and continue to fire their weapons after any threat has been
eliminated. Police also routinely delay medical care for people in encounters and use
excessive force on wounded people, officials said.

The government found a “pattern or practice” of the violations, saying the Police
Department unlawfully detains homeless people and disposes of their belongings and
discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when dispatching calls
for help and responding to people who are in crisis. And the Justice Department said
Phoenix police had violated the rights of people engaged in protected speech.

The sweeping investigation found “pervasive failings” that have “disguised and
perpetuated” problems for years, according to the report.

Phoenix police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But a top police
union official called the Justice Department investigation a “farce.” Putting Phoenix
police under a consent decree — a court-enforced plan for reform — would hurt the
morale of officers, said Darrell Kriplean, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement
Assn., which represents about 2,200 officers.

“The Department of Justice is not interested in making local police departments and the
communities they serve better,” Kriplean said. “This action demonstrates that they are
only interested in removing control of local police from the communities that they serve
through consent decrees.”

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-13/phoenix-police-have-pattern-of-violating-civil-rights-and-using-excessive-force-justice-dept-says 2/7
6/27/24, 4:52 PM Phoenix police violate civil rights, use excessive force, Justice Department says - Los Angeles Times

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement that the city received the findings when
the Justice Department announced the report, and officials will meet June 25 to get
legal advice and discuss next steps.

CALIFORNIA
FOR SUBSCRIBERS

LAPD can’t get rid of their bad cops. Here’s what they want to do about it
March 13, 2024

“I will carefully and thoroughly review the findings before making further comment,”
she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

U.S. Atty. Gen. 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 Phoenix Police Department
on meaningful reform that protects the civil rights and safety of Phoenix residents and
strengthens police-community trust,” he said in an email.

The Justice Department said the Police Department enforces certain laws — such as
low-level drug and traffic offenses, loitering and trespassing — more harshly against

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-13/phoenix-police-have-pattern-of-violating-civil-rights-and-using-excessive-force-justice-dept-says 3/7
6/27/24, 4:52 PM Phoenix police violate civil rights, use excessive force, Justice Department says - Los Angeles Times

Black, Hispanic and Native American people than against white people who engaged in
the same conduct.

Black people in the city are over 3.5 times more likely than white people, for example, to
be cited or arrested for not signaling before turning, the report says. Hispanic drivers
are more than 50% more likely than white drivers to be cited or arrested for speeding
near school zone cameras. And Native American people were more than 44 times more
likely than white people — on a per capita basis — to be cited or arrested for possessing
and consuming alcohol.

Officers investigating drug-related offenses also were 27% more likely to release white
people in 30 minutes or less, but Native Americans accused of the same offense were
detained longer, the department said. And Native Americans were 14% more likely to be
booked for trespassing-related offenses, while officers cited or released white people
who were stopped for the same offense.

There is “overwhelming statistical evidence” that the disparities are due to

discrimination, the Justice Department said.

This is the first time the department has issued findings like this regarding treatment of
Native American people and homeless people, said Assistant Atty. Gen. Kristen Clarke,
who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Clarke criticized the city for “over-policing” homeless people, saying officers frequently
arrest them without reasonable suspicion that they committed a crime. More than a
third of the Phoenix Police Department’s misdemeanor arrests and citations were of
homeless people, the report says.

The investigation launched in August 2021. The police force has been criticized in recent
years for its treatment of protesters in 2020, deaths of people who were restrained by
officers, and a high number of shootings by officers. Civil rights advocates had

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-13/phoenix-police-have-pattern-of-violating-civil-rights-and-using-excessive-force-justice-dept-says 4/7
6/27/24, 4:52 PM Phoenix police violate civil rights, use excessive force, Justice Department says - Los Angeles Times

complained that Phoenix police and prosecutors were pursuing gang charges as part of
abusive political prosecutions intended to silence dissent and scare protesters.

Litigation is an option if the Justice Departments’ efforts to secure a consent decree are
unsuccessful.

“We remain very hopeful that we can build on the track record of success that we have
had in other jurisdictions across our country and put in place a consent decree that
contains the strong medicine necessary to address the severe violations identified,”
Clarke said.

Similar Justice Department investigations, in Albuquerque, Baltimore and elsewhere,

have found systemic problems related to excessive force and civil rights violations, some
resulting in costly consent decrees that have lasted for years.

WORLD & NATION

Video of Phoenix police threatening a black couple revives memories of Arizona’s

racism
Aug. 1, 2019

In Phoenix, a 2020 case accusing 15 protesters of being in an antipolice gang was

dismissed because there wasn’t credible evidence; in 2017, a “challenge coin” was
circulated among officers depicting a gas mask-wearing demonstrator getting shot in
the groin with a pepper ball; and in June 2019, cellphone video emerged showing
officers pointing guns when they confronted an unarmed Black couple with two small
children they suspected of shoplifting.

Poder In Action, a Phoenix advocacy group for people of color and workers, said the
findings were no surprise.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-13/phoenix-police-have-pattern-of-violating-civil-rights-and-using-excessive-force-justice-dept-says 5/7
6/27/24, 4:52 PM Phoenix police violate civil rights, use excessive force, Justice Department says - Los Angeles Times

“We never needed a DOJ investigation to tell us this,” the group said in a statement.
“The data and the stories from residents have been telling us this for years.”

The report said some police shootings likely could have been avoided if not for officers’
“reckless tactics.” And investigators found that police “unreasonably delay” providing
aid to people they have shot and use force against people who are unconscious or
otherwise incapacitated.

The Justice Department zeroed in on Phoenix’s 911 operations. Even though the city has
invested $15 million to send nonpolice responders to mental health calls, it hasn’t given
the 911 call-takers and dispatchers necessary training.

Officers assume people with disabilities are dangerous and resort to force rather than
de-escalation tactics, leading to force and criminal consequences for those with
behavioral health disabilities, rather than finding them care, the department said.

Billeaud writes for the Associated Press. AP journalist Alanna Durkin Richer
contributed from Washington, D.C.

More to Read
Brass knuckles, body cams and bad behavior: LAPD probe links
troubled Valley gang units
May 17, 2024

At least 11 Minneapolis officers were disciplined amid unrest after

George Floyd’s murder, reports show
April 6, 2024

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-13/phoenix-police-have-pattern-of-violating-civil-rights-and-using-excessive-force-justice-dept-says 6/7
6/27/24, 4:52 PM Phoenix police violate civil rights, use excessive force, Justice Department says - Los Angeles Times

Behind L.A. County’s less-scrutinized cities and suburbs, a disturbing

finding on arrests
Feb. 14, 2024

Copyright © 2024, Los Angeles Times | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | CA Notice of Collection | Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-06-13/phoenix-police-have-pattern-of-violating-civil-rights-and-using-excessive-force-justice-dept-says 7/7