"PERVASIVE FAILINGS"
Department of Justice Sends Phoenix A Well-Deserved Nasty Gram
Finally, Transparency
No, not from Phoenix PD or City Hall where it should have originated. No, it came from the U.S. Department of Justice. Late last week, The DOJ dropped its long anticipated findings from a sprawling investigation of police misconduct. The report was stunning, even for those of us who’ve followed this unhinged department for decades.
Over 126 pages, DOJ exposed what it called “pervasive failures.” The extreme violence, inhumane acts, and shattering of constitutional rights which are Phoenix PD’s standard operating procedures:
Routinely uses deadly force;
Routinely practices racial discrimination;
Routinely violates the rights of unhoused people (a first time finding in a DOJ investigation of any U.S. police department);
Routinely violates the rights of individuals suffering from behavioral issues;
Routinely “…makes no concession for the particular vulnerabilities of children, instead treating them just the same as adults.”
US Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark made that last point. She called out officers who pinned a 15-year old Latino boy against a bus stop pole and handcuffed him. The young man, no doubt fearing a beating or worse, had simply asked the officers if he could call his mother.
Consent Order Paranoia
While DOJ did not issue a consent order, which would force Phoenix into a much earned long and expensive monitoring process, city leaders undoubtedly fear one. My guess is they were convinced their months long PR campaign for self-reform would change minds at DOJ. Nope. (Check out my March column for deep details).
And, I wonder if they were hoping President Biden would tap DOJ’s brakes, Arizona being a swing state he has to win. Apparently they’ve missed Biden’s constant reminders. He does not interfere in DOJ affairs, even when they’re prosecuting his son. Even when, apparently, it could cost him a swing state.
Phoenix’s clueless response, continuing insistence on excuses and cover-up, would be laughable if it weren’t wrong on so many levels.
“Protect and serve” my ass.
Concession? Open Government? HELL NO!
In response, Phoenix showed true colors of both the police and Mayor Kate Gallego. Union leaders scorned the DOJ investigators as “frauds.” I guess they’re trying to stay on Ms. Clark’s good side. Gallego, who foolishly tied her political future to union support, promised a closed door city council meeting to discuss options.
Here’s an option Mayor Kate. No secret meeting. Call a public hearing. Let the many victims of Phoenix PD’s rogue behavior tell you what to do. I’m guessing they’ll want DOJ oversight and a police department that actually protects them.
Phoenix in Split Screen
The DOJ bomb dropped as Phoenix and Arizona moved into a national split screen. On one side, stormtrooper cops. On the other, Atlantic writer George Packer’s massive article dissecting Phoenix. The sub headline is “Conspiracism and hyper-partisanship in the nation’s fastest-growing city.” Indeed.
In the best reporting I’ve read on my town (or just about any town), Packer dissects all the contradictions of Phoenix. Its white hot growth in the face of mega-droughts. Its tantrum over the border while relying on cheap immigrant labor. Its thriving MAGA/Nazi political leaders openly operating and embraced in a purple state.
The article headline, “WHAT WILL BECOME OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION?” is a provocative question. If American civilization looks to Phoenix in search of answers for the future, then I fear for America.
We may be a new, modern city where the sun shines every day, where Super Bowls come every three or four years, where massive semi-conductor plants fuel the future.
But, we do not face our problems. let alone try to solve them. We are not honest about our failures to address racial and economic inequities, the homeless, MAGA racism and sedition, and on and on.
Want to know the truth about Phoenix?
Read Packer’s outstanding article. Read the DOJ report too. The sun isn’t shining right now.