The City of Phoenix is rolling out a street racing task force in order to combat street racing and expanding the Community Assistance Program by implementing behavioral health first responders this year.
City addresses street racing, safety
In September 2021, the State of Arizona updated the Arizona Revised Statutes to define street racing as “reckless driving, racing and obstructing a highway or thoroughfare.”
A 40-hour reinforcement squad with an undercover and intel component was created on Feb. 1 to crack down on street racing, according to officials at a City Council subcommittee hearing. The new street racing task force will focus on enforcement, street racing complaints and calls for service.
“Using our undercover units, we can get the information we need, provide resources such as air units and call them in to the vehicles, which allows us not to get into pursuits and to safely take them off when they are at a static location and no longer mobile,” Derek Elmore, a Phoenix Police Department commander, said.
According to police officials, two goals the Community Assistance Program hopes to accomplish are a collaboration with community stakeholders and access to the freeway to ensure a timely response.
Last year the department worked with Arizona State University to address concerns about an estimated 300 vehicles that were street racing near an ASU stadium, Elmore said.
The impound hold for a vehicle involved in street racing is 20 days, and the daily storage rate was increased to $25 per day on each impounded vehicle; the previous rate was $15 a day.
“Street racing is getting more and more aggressive, so it is important that we maintain the Street Racing Task Force to keep that element outside of the city of Phoenix,” Elmore said.
Mental health crises could be addressed with new unit
In addition to the street racing task force, a behavioral health unit (BHU) is being created this year in order to expand the services of the police department and first responders.
The BHU expansion is intended to provide alternate responders, who are not police officers, to assist with mental health, according to Dolores Ernst of the Phoenix Fire Department.
Implementation of the BHU has resulted in the creation of the CAP Dispatch Review Team, Ernst said.
The team consists of police and fire communication divisions, and members from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Government Performance Lab.
“The Government Performance Lab Fellow has provided the team with research and information on how other jurisdictions across the United States have determined call-types for their alternative response teams,” Ernst said.
The Public Works Department anticipates receiving the new BHU vehicles between July and October, with the majority of the fleet arriving between July and August, Ernst said.
Ernst noted that there have been concerns from the public regarding the ability to distinguish between BHU and law enforcement vehicles, but explained that they will work to distinguish the vehicles before the new fleet arrives.
“I really appreciate all of the team’s hard work getting things up and running, despite the various challenges,” Councilmember Yassamin Ansari said. “There still are a lot of people who don’t know that this program is coming, or being expanded. It’s a positive story to tell from the city.”
The first BHU team is scheduled to be implemented at the end of April, after the BHU Standard Operating Procedures are finalized.
Throughout March and April, interviews will be conducted to fill the caseworker and peer support positions.
Contact the reporter at jmoddo@asu.edu.
