Democrats ask Ducey for special session to address police reform
Democratic lawmakers asked Gov. Doug Ducey to call a special session this summer to address police reform.
“The disparate treatment of people of color by law enforcement is a serious issue that will require hard work by all of us to overcome,” according to a letter signed by Senate and House lawmakers.
Ducey is expected to call a special session to address issues related to COVID-19, which has led to more than 900 deaths, more than 21,000 cases, mass unemployment across the state and the shuttering of businesses.
The lawmakers say they also want Ducey to call them together to enact “genuine police reform.”
Patrick Ptak, a Ducey spokesman, said the governor has talked to community leaders and lawmakers of both parties on this issue.
And he appreciates the Democrats’ thoughtfulness, Ptak said.
The Democrats’ letter comes as people in cities across the country have protested the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
In Phoenix, hundreds of people have been arrested in protests denouncing Floyd’s death and police shootings in Phoenix and other cities.
The Democratic lawmakers are seeking:
❚ Body cameras for all police officers in Arizona.
❚ Outside investigations deadly use-of-force cases.
❚ A statewide database history of misconduct.
❚ Training on de-escalation and sensitivity by the state board that certifies officers.
❚ Limits on officers’ “qualified immunity” against lawsuits.
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The lawmakers want every officer in Arizona to have a body camera to record audio and video while the officer is at work.
Last year, the Phoenix City Council approved $5 million to buy 2,000 Axon body cameras for its nearly 3,000 police officers.
In January, Ducey called for lawmakers to allocate funds to the state Department of Public Safety so it could purchase on-body cameras. The proposal passed in the state House of Representatives but did not get a vote in the
Senate as the coronavirus shortened the regular session.
“Body cameras provide an objective alternative viewpoint for the protection and safety for the public and officers,” the letter said.
Police agencies that equip their officers with body cameras also include the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, the Mesa Police Department and the Flagstaff Police Department.
Outside investigations of use of force
Every fatal use-of-force case is investigated. But after an officer kills someone, the Democrats want a different law enforcement agency to look into what happened.
In a fatal police shooting or deadly use-of-force case, it’s common for large police departments to investigate their own officers.
These criminal investigations are sent to prosecutors with recommendations on whether any charges should be filed against the officer or officers who killed the person.
In smaller departments, usually in rural areas, a police department asks a neighboring agency to investigate the deadly episode.
Between 2011 to 2018, the Arizona Republic found that of 600 municipal police shootings, one had led to prosecution.
Former Mesa police officer Philip “Mitch” Brailsford was charged with the killing of Daniel Shaver. In December 2017, he was found not guilty by a Maricopa County jury.
In Phoenix, the City Council recently created a civilian oversight office that will investigate police shootings and residents’ use of force complaints.
Statewide database on officer discipline
In Arizona, no central repository exists of police officers’ career records, which makes it impossible for hiring departments, and the public, to get a full picture of the complaints against them and how they have been handled, according to a 2017 Arizona Republic investigation.
“Require the database to include the discipline records of all officers and mandate that law enforcement agencies run a database search before they hire any officer,” the Democrats’ letter said.
News publications, including The Arizona Republic, have created their own to detail either police shootings or use of force cases.
The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, the state office that certifies law enforcement officers and has the power to revoke those certifications, does keep a history of officers’ disciplinary issues, but the system has loopholes.
For example, officers who are fired for misconduct or resign before the hammer drops are able to move from agency to agency, The Republic found.
De-escalation, sensitivity training
In the letter, the lawmakers asked that the board, which also sets the minimum standards for how to train police recruits in Arizona, include deescalation and cultural sensitivity training.
In recent years, Mesa and Phoenix police officers have undergone implicit bias training.
Implicit bias “refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control,” according to the Ohio State University.
Limits on qualified immunity
A legal doctrine called qualified immunity is used by law enforcement officers’ attorneys to get lawsuits that allege excessive force dismissed.
The Democrats want to change laws to allow officers to be sued “for actions or omissions carried out while on duty.” They also propose removing certain defenses for officers who have been found to have acted unlawfully.
Federal law protects officers from lawsuits, and in some cases they are provided immunity, even if there is evidence that the officers did something illegal.
A Reuters investigation recently found that judges commonly throw out lawsuits, citing the officers’ immunity privilege tied to a U.S. Supreme Court decision.