On Tuesday, Sept. 24, the City Council voted unanimously to amend Phoenix Police Department policies, as recommended by the city’s recent Department of Justice investigation report.
According to a Continued Public Safety Reforms memo by the City of Phoenix, some of these new policies include creating a hotline to report officer misconduct and making new programs to help investigate claims of misconduct within the Phoenix PD.
“The report outlined 10 specific areas of investigation and listed 37 remedial measures,” said Police Chief Mike Sullivan.
These new policies are just some of the many implemented since 2014 to help improve the Phoenix Police Department and maintain accountability.
The DOJ report comes after a four-year investigation into the Phoenix PD, which found a pattern of the department violating people’s constitutional rights.
According to the report, such offenses include the police department using excessive force during arrests, violating the rights of homeless individuals by detaining people without probable cause, violating the rights of people with mental disabilities by not complying with certain modifications that fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act, discriminating against people of color enforcing more on people of color rather than white people and retaliating against people who are protesting.
Multiple activists at the City Council meeting called for the City Council to allocate more funds to different departments for the City of Phoenix, with many saying to give more money to the Housing Department.
According to the Phoenix Budget, the Phoenix Police Department received a budget of over $740 million from the city’s general fund for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Meanwhile, the Housing Department, which invests in helping people experiencing homelessness get back on their feet, was only given slightly over $2 million from the city’s general fund for the fiscal year, with the rest of the over $196 million coming from outside sources.
The new policies will also work closely with the Office of Housing Solutions to create new ways to safely interact with people who are unhoused, including new training for police officers on how to utilize resources, the Community Assistance Program and the Crisis Intervention Team.
While this is a step in the right direction, people like Rebecca Denis, the family justice organizer at the non-profit Poder in Action, want more from the City Council to hold Phoenix PD accountable.
“I think the first action that the City of Phoenix and Phoenix PD could do is stop trying to influence doubt into this report,” Denis said. “The city of Phoenix and Phoenix PD really need to admit fault and admit that their leadership is what got us here.”
Activists are not the only ones who are having a hard time trusting Phoenix PD, as people who experience mental health issues or homelessness are also having this issue.
“They’ll talk about their crisis intervention team that they have with the city of Phoenix, but that’s still police,” said Denis. “That’s still a person that had a taser, that has a gun that could easily get, no pun intended, triggered.”
With this new vote completed, the City Council reiterated the importance of this being the first baby step in a line of future decisions.
“Tonight’s action is not meant to be a remedy for everything. It’s not meant to be a vanishing act, it is meant to make an honest attempt at something.” Councilman Carlos Galindo-Elvira said.
Edited by Shi Bradley, Anyon Fak-McDaniels
