Phoenix police told the U.S. Department of Justice they are reforming. But how?
The Phoenix Police Department released a report on Jan. 11 about reforms it has implemented in the five areas the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating since 2021: use of force; protesters' rights; whether the department engages in discriminatory policing; the police response to people with disabilities, including behavioral or mental health issues; and whether officers unlawfully take homeless people's property.
Phoenix released the report as part of a plea to the DOJ to let the Police Department continue to administer its own reforms without federal oversight or court monitoring. Though the department admits to some failures, it has not acknowledged systemic problems in all of the areas being investigated.
The report revealed a big change. All of the department’s units that determine whether procedures and policies are being followed and if improvement is needed now fall under the new Organizational Integrity Bureau.
Most other reforms identified were new or updated policy changes and various forms of training. Because most changes are new, there's no hard data evidence of their effectiveness, but the changes are in line with changes the DOJ has demanded of other law enforcement agencies, according to the department.
Assistant Chief Bryan Chapman, who oversees the Organizational Integrity Bureau, said at a Jan. 17 public meeting that the reforms go beyond policy and training to address cultural shifts within the department.
"The directive from the leadership was, you have two choices: You become a collaborative partner and work together and reform it, or you don't get a voice as to what happens to this organization," he said.
What use-of-force changes have been made?
Use-of-force levels: A policy change now categorizes use-of-force incidents into three levels. A different review team is assigned to each level:
Level 1 covers physical control of a person by an officer, body-hold techniques and takedowns. These will be reviewed at the precinct level.
Level 2 covers any use-of-force that ends in someone losing consciousness, the use of Tasers, the use of chemicals and non-lethal firearms. The Force Evaluation and Review Unit will review this level.
Level 3 covers all cases that include the use of deadly force. They will be reviewed by the Critical Incident Response Team.
Police score cards: The department will create score cards that rate police interaction based on randomly selected cases, Chapman said. The score cards will be created by an internal committee based on bodycam footage and interviews. Chapman said he hopes this program will be ready to launch by the end of 2024.
Training: The department has adopted two new training methods to address use-of-force incidents.
Active Bystander Law Enforcement Training — The new training shows police officers how to step in when another officer might use excessive force. They learn to distract, delegate or guide the other officer away from making things worse in a tense situation.
Integrating Communications Assessment and Tactics — This training teaches officers how to identify a mental health or drug use crisis and respond with specific verbal and nonverbal communication.
Paid use-of-force review: Phoenix paid an outside investigator to evaluate use-of-force incidents. The investigator, a former police chief in Minnesota, found no violations in 32 less serious use-of-force cases from November 2022 to June 2023.
DOJ critics watch: Phoenix turns investigation into police failures into a showdown over federal oversight
What has changed with respect to protests?
In its report, the Police Department identified two failures when it came to First Amendment protections: the unsubstantiated arrests of people protesting in 2020 and a coin found on officers mocking violence against protesters.
Policies: The department changed its existing policy and created two other policies to address First Amendment rights.
Civil Disturbance Policy — The changes made to this policy give more detail and instruction to protest response. One change requires that a commander approve the use of projectiles and chemicals.
First Amendment Facilitation Policy — This policy emphasizes careful handling of protester arrests and encourages officers to issue citations instead of detaining people when possible.
Standards of Public Trust Policy — The policy stresses treating everyone with dignity and respect, emphasizing that officers should let people speak during encounters. Even though the rule has not yet been officially approved, its main points are already part of the department's 20-hour use-of-force training.
Prohibition Against Retaliation Policy — This rule is almost ready, but the department wants to hear what people think before making it final. The draft defines "retaliation" as any action that stops a police employee from reporting potential misconduct. Supervisors can get in trouble if they don't do anything about retaliation complaints, according to the draft.
Duty to Intervene Policy — This policy requires police to intervene, prevent and stop misconduct or the excessive use of force whenever and wherever they observe it.
New unit: The department also revealed the creation of the Civil Disturbance Unit, which will respond to protests and work with the Community Engagement Unit to keep communication open between police and protest leaders during demonstrations.
On its own: Phoenix asks DOJ to let city reform police without any federal oversight
What about discrimination claims?
The department has not admitted to any discrimination claims, but it has hired a University of California, Berkeley, professor to investigate police procedures and is awaiting the findings.
Training: Since 2019, the department has mandated an eight-hour implicit bias training with online refreshers in 2021 and 2023.
New policy: The department also said it had implemented orders in its operations manual that lay out broad prohibitions against biased policing and instructed officers on encounters with migrants.
What about mental and behavioral health crisis calls?
To improve behavioral and mental health-related call responses, the department has focused on reducing police interaction and substituting it with contact by mental health care providers. The department works with the nonprofit Solari on crisis call responses.
Training: Since 2017, Phoenix police have required all recruits to undergo 40 hours of mental health-related training. The department also has had Crisis Intervention Team training since 2001. That training is meant to teach officers how to identify people in crisis.
About 500 officers — of the department's more than 2,600 — have received voluntary Crisis Intervention Team training. According to the department, research on Crisis Intervention Team training suggests it becomes less effective if it is required of all officers.
Though studies have shown that Crisis Intervention Team training improves behavioral health knowledge, there is no evidence it reduces police violence or use-of-force incidents, according to research by the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.
New committee: In 2022, the department launched the Crisis Intervention Review Committee, which assesses randomly selected interactions between police and people in crisis. The committee includes a Phoenix community member, a social worker, the president of Mental Health America of Arizona, representatives from mental health providers Optum and MercyCare, and a police detective.
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What about the property of people experiencing homelessness?
In response to claims that the department improperly seized the belongings of people experiencing homelessness, the department paid the former Human Services Campus director, Sheila D. Harris, to investigate. The Human Services Campus was recently renamed Key Campus.
Outcomes of review: After interviewing three people experiencing homelessness, 18 people who work at the Human Services Campus, 15 people who work for Phoenix and four people living near the Human Services Campus, the department said that Harris found no supporting evidence that police had “interfered with the possessions of persons experiencing homelessness since 2020.”
Reach the reporter at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix police told the DOJ they are reforming. But how?
