DOJ finds Phoenix police discriminate against people of color: What its report says
A Justice Department investigation found "reasonable cause" to believe the Phoenix Police Department unlawfully discriminates against Black, Latino and Native people when enforcing the law.
Black, Latino and Native people are cited and arrested at disproportionately higher rates than white people for a variety of low-level traffic and alcohol offenses, and Phoenix police target them for minor violations as simple as riding a bicycle the wrong way on a street, the report said.
The investigation also found that the Phoenix Police Department does not use enforcement data to evaluate whether officers treat people differently due to their race or national origin the way other police departments do.
The Phoenix Police Department also ignores complaints about racism and police bias from people of color who believe they were unlawfully discriminated against by officers, the report found.
The Phoenix Police Department claims it is unaware of any evidence of racist practices, but the investigation found no evidence the department conducts any reviews to identify potentially discriminatory policing patterns.
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What's more, community groups have raised concerns about police discrimination against people of color for years, the report found.
Justice Department investigators performed "rigorous analysis" of the Phoenix Police Department's enforcement to rule out plausible race-neutral reasons for the disproportionate rates, the report said.
"We still found overwhelming statistical evidence that the racial and ethnic disparities in (the Phoenix Police Department's) citations and arrests are due to discrimination. The results of these studies were clear; (the Phoenix Police Department) unlawfully uses race as a factor when enforcing the law," the report said.
The Phoenix Police Department has even ignored racism within its own ranks, the report said. In 2021, a former assistant chief referred to a recently promoted Black commander as "Blackie," the report said. The executive assistant chief, the department's No. 2 position, heard the comment but did not report it, the report noted.
What did the Justice Department report find on racial and ethnic bias?
Latinos and white people make up roughly the same shares of Phoenix's 1.6 million population, but Latinos are three times more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for traffic equipment-related offenses.
Latinos are 12 times as often as white people to be cited or arrested for improper tinting of windows.
Black people, who make up about 7% of Phoenix's population, are cited or arrested three times as often as white people for traffic equipment offenses, including four times as often for improper license plate lights and three times as often for improper tinting of windows or having rear lights or reflectors that are not red.
Black drivers are 144% more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for low-level moving violations. Latinos are 40% more likely to be cited for the same thing.
Phoenix police were 10% more likely to release white drivers stopped for low-level traffic offenses.
Phoenix police were 60% more likely to allow white drivers stopped for speeding to leave in 30 minutes or less, compared to lengthy detentions for Black drivers stopped for speeding.
Phoenix police cited or arrested Black people for marijuana possession at almost seven times the rate of white people. Latinos were cited or arrested for marijuana possession at over three times the rate of white people.
Native people were 44 times more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for possession or consuming alcohol.
Unhoused Native people were 26 times more likely than white people to be cited or arrested for remaining at a bus stop for over an hour in an 8-hour period, even though Native people make up 7% of the local unhoused population while white people make up 68%.
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What has the reaction been to the DOJ findings on racial bias?
The Justice Department report confirms complaints some Black community leaders have been making about discrimination against people of color for decades, said Warren Stewart Sr., pastor at First Institutional Baptist Church.
"Systemic racism is ingrained in the DNA of the Phoenix Police Department," Stewart said. "It's tragic that 60 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that these kinds of discriminatory and racist practices still exist in the fifth-largest city of the United States in our Police Department."
The Arizona state conference of the NAACP was grateful for the findings of the Justice Department's investigation of the Phoenix Police Department, said Andre Miller, the group's second vice president.
"As an organization, we have stood with those who have experienced disparity, harm, and with the survivors of police violence," Miller said in a written statement. "We look forward to concrete changes, the demilitarization of the police force, and the respect of life. Phoenix PD has a lot of work to do to build trust and validity, as a supposed peacekeeping force preserving and respecting the sanctity of life."
Viridiana Hernandez, director of Poder in Action, a Latino advocacy group, said she was not surprised by the Justice Department's findings.
"It's infuriating. It's not surprising,' Hernandez said. "We have seen this disproportionate and this racialized policing, and we've been talking about this for a long time."
Hernandez does not believe more police training will eliminate the discriminatory police practices identified in the report.
"They can't train themselves of the ingrained anti-Blackness, ingrained racism, some of these ingrained biases that are leading the way that they police our communities," Hernandez said.
She said the department needs to use data to identify police officers who discriminate against people of color and those officers should be fired.
"There needs to be accountability," Hernandez said.
The Justice Department's findings, however, were condemned by police representatives.
Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Darrell Kriplean criticized the Justice Department for releasing the findings of the investigation to the public before giving police the chance to review the report.
The Phoenix Police Department "has a long history of self-assessment and self-correction," Kriplean said in a written statement. "In fact, the department is either in the process or has already implemented significant reforms, many of which the DOJ has called for in other agencies that they have investigated and bullied into federal oversight."
Paul Sheldon, president of the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, which includes members of the Phoenix Police Department, blasted the Justice Department's findings, calling them "deeply biased."
"This report is touted as being a stepping stone to improve policing in Phoenix and community relations," Sheldon said in a statement. "Instead, this report is deeply biased and falls perfectly in line with every other DOJ report we have seen over the last four years — reports that lambast all police as bad, systematically racist, and incapable of doing good."
What happens next?
The Justice Department made several recommendations to identify and reduce discrimination against people of color:
Ensure public safety data collection allows for analysis of racial disparities, including for police stops, searches, citations, arrests, use of force and investigative activities.
Improve policies related to discretionary enforcement for police stops, searches and arrests to guide officers' discretion and ensure constitutional and non-discriminatory treatment when enforcing traffic, drug and quality of life laws.
Develop the capacity to analyze data about disparities based on race or national origin in enforcement activities overall and to assess the impact of any specialized units, initiatives or programs.
Where enforcement disparities based on race or national origin exist, take steps to understand the cause of the disparities and address them.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Racial bias found within Phoenix police: What the DOJ report says