With Arizona police shootings set to outpace previous incidents from 2019 and 2020, the Phoenix Police Department moved five civilian positions to the city’s Human Services Department to create a team that will assist community members impacted by police-related traumatic incidences.
This comes after the announcement in August that the department is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice for claims of abuse, civil rights violations, and excessive force.
“These positions [in the police department] had been vacant for a while, and there will be no impact to the police departments moving them,” said City of Phoenix Human Services Director Marchelle Franklin at a city council meeting on Sept. 8. “These five positions will be called the Family Advocacy Team.”
The purpose of the Family Advocacy Team is to provide support for those involved in traumatic police department-related incidents. According to Franklin, a traumatic incident is described as “an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death or serious injury of a community member, use of force resulting in death or serious bodily injury, death of those arrested or detained in any other police encounter at the direction of our police chief.”
So far in 2021, the Phoenix Police Department continues to rank as the agency with the highest number of shootings and fatalities among all Arizona police departments according to data and analysis from the Arizona Republic. Another study analyzing data from 2015-2020 ranks Arizona as fourth in the nation for police shooting fatalities.
Regarding the ongoing Department of Justice investigation, City of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a statement that she welcomes the DOJ review as comprehensive police reform has been a priority to her since she took office.
The City of Phoenix’s decision to create the Family Advocacy Team shows it is attempting to make some changes for reform. However, some believe it is not addressing the true root of the problem.
Trey Sequeira, founder of the group Youth for Liberation, says that the police force is the issue.
“It’s not what anybody asked for, even people who are in favor of reform wanted something more than that,” he says, referring to the Family Advocacy Program.
Sequeira, along with many others this past year, has protested the Phoenix Police Department and demanded police give certain duties to social workers and independent organizations equipped to deal with mental and behavioral health crises. Others have thought that reforming the police department could be the answer.
Due to the fact that the Family Advocacy Team is still supported and funded by the state and is closely related to the Phoenix Police Department, it could be an unsafe resource for victims to turn to.
“I think local organizations independent of the state will always be the better option,” said Sequeira who added the community will always have the victims’ best interest in mind.
Yet, Franklin promotes that the Family Advocacy Team “will be comprised of individuals with backgrounds in trauma-informed care, focused on ensuring that the services and supports offered to do not inadvertently re-traumatize individuals.”
These services include assistance in obtaining mental health services and in navigating the investigative process, such as securing public records. They will also help with facilitating communication between families and the Phoenix Police Department along with other government agencies.
While discussing the addition of support services within the next six months for family members of those involved in vehicular accidents and homicides at a city council meeting on Sept. 8, Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari questioned whether services will include all forms of traumatic incidents.
City Manager Jeff Barton answered, “this is going to be an evolution. We’re starting off with the things that we already know families had trouble navigating…as we move forward in the evolution of rolling this program and process out, we will pick up additional types of incidences.”
Contact the reporter emwillar@asu.edu
