U.S. to investigate Phoenix police over excessive force

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is opening a broad probe into the police force in Phoenix to examine whether officers have been using excessive force and abusing people experiencing homelessness.

The investigation into the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department is the third sweeping civil investigation into a law enforcement agency brought by the Justice Department in the Biden administration and comes as the department has worked to shift its priorities to focus on policing and civil rights. Few such investigations were opened during the Trump administration.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday said the probe will also examine whether police have engaged in discriminatory policing practices and will work to determine if officers have retaliated against people engaged in protected First Amendment activities.

In June, the top prosecutor in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, permanently dismissed charges that included gang allegations against more than a dozen people arrested at an October 2020 protest against police brutality. The move came amid complaints from civil rights advocates that Phoenix police and prosecutors were pursuing gang charges as part of abusive political prosecutions intended to silence dissent and scare protesters.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, hailed the Justice Department investigation and said it will help with ongoing police reform measures she has been pushing since taking office in 2019.

“Public safety reform is an ongoing process in Phoenix, and now, with the help of the USDOJ, this robust program will continue,” Gallego said in a statement.

The city also plans to start a new program this year to respond to mental health calls by placing behavioral health professionals in the field. The city also has a new office of police accountability that is charged with independently investigating allegations of wrongdoing by officers. That office may be hamstrung, however, by a new state law signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey that limits civilian review boards like the one Phoenix has set up.

City Councilman Sal DiCiccio, a frequent defender of Phoenix police, said the department “has been under extreme attack by activists bent on defunding the police.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which has sued Phoenix police in the past for actions against protesters, said the investigation was needed to force the department to change.

“This is not a case of a few bad apples — Phoenix PD has deeprooted, systemic problems with the way it treats community members,” said Victoria Lopez, the group’s advocacy and legal director.

Part of the investigation will also examine whether police officers have been violating the rights of people who are experiencing homelessness by “seizing and disposing of their belongings in a manner that violates the Constitution,” Garland said.