It's been one week since the DOJ announced their findings after a nearly three-year investigation into the Phoenix Police Department. Their findings included some harsh criticisms of our police and noticeably lacked the evidence to back up their claims. Historically, the DOJ never provides proof for their claims. When asked by other agencies who have undergone investigations, the DOJ has refused. In fact, one agency took them to court to ask a judge to compel the DOJ to hand over their data and evidence, but the judge ruled in favor of the DOJ because that agency had already signed a consent decree and had essentially signed away their rights to contest the DOJ's findings. Yet another reason for Phoenix to not enter into a consent decree.

Now, I want to make it very clear, I'm not saying that everything in their report is false. Some of the incidents they highlight in the report were incorrect actions taken by individual members of our law enforcement. What the DOJ fails to mention in the report is the outcome of the internal investigations, or the outcome of the disciplinary review board's decisions. In some of those incidents, the officers may have been punished, demoted, or even fired. The DOJ doesn't care!

Where the DOJ has indicated a lack or failure in proper training and education, I agree with the Mayor in her first interview since the findings report came out, this is where elected officials and city leadership can and should be leading efforts to reform and change. At the end of their report, the DOJ offered 37 suggested reforms and ideas. I thank the DOJ for their suggested reforms and ideas and want to respond with, "we'll take it from here."

I'm still reading through the report and working with city staff to identify the specific incidents they cited to see how we responded. As our City Manager said, it took the DOJ 34 months to complete their investigation. It's going to take more than 34 minutes, 34 hours, or even 34 days for the City to do our own investigation and respond back to the DOJ.

You can read the full 126-page findings report by clicking here (English) or here (Spanish).

Ann O'Brien
Councilwoman for District 1

Note: to avoid confusion, we deleted parts from her statement concerning a meeting that has already occurred

The Phoenix Police Department has their own web page dedicated to the investigation: Click Here