Unexpected findings in Justice Department report about Phoenix police

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced the results of a nearly three-year investigation into the Phoenix Police Department.

Its report found "very severe" violations of federal law and the Constitution, and a pattern of racially discriminatory policing, excessive force and violations of the rights of homeless people, among other conclusions.

Much of what the Justice Department found, at least the broad strokes, was expected.

Since the investigation was announced in 2021, it was known the Justice Department was looking into the use of force by Phoenix officers, retaliation against protesters, discriminatory policing practices and the Police Department's treatment of people with disabilities and people experiencing homelessness.

In addition, some people who have been mistreated by Phoenix police have been vocal about their experiences, and community activists and groups have organized around problematic policing for years.

But there were several unexpected findings from the Justice Department inquiry.

See the full findings: Read the Justice Department report on Phoenix and its Police Department

Phoenix police have 'use it or lose it' weapons policy, DOJ official says

The Justice Department reported a widespread pattern of excessive force used by the Phoenix Police Department. Officers escalate situations through improper use of less-lethal force such as Tasers, projectiles, leg restraints and police dogs, and deadly force such as guns and neck restraints.

This use of excessive force is exacerbated, in part, by a policy that penalizes officers who don’t make use of their less-lethal weapons, according to the report.

“The Police Department not only instructs officers to be proactive in using projectiles but has adopted a ‘use it or lose it’ policy, taking the weapons away from officers who did not fire them enough,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said during a Thursday news conference announcing the inquiry’s findings.

The report describes the Phoenix Police Department's attempt to reduce a tactical unit's fatal shootings by giving its officers less-lethal weapons. The goal was to use "overwhelming force" instead of shooting people, the report said.

"PhxPD not only instructed officers to be 'proactive' with projectiles, it took the weapons away from officers who did not use them enough," the report said.

Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Darrell Kriplean said that policy was news to him.

“I’ve never heard that,” said the police union head.

Officers taught all force — even deadly force — is de-escalation

After investigators reviewed hundreds of lesson plans and attended dozens of hours of classroom training within the Phoenix Police Department, the Justice Department concluded Phoenix police are taught a misguided notion that escalating violence is de-escalation.

Police are trained to prioritize the safety of hostages, innocents, law enforcement and suspects, in that order. But investigators found that in several cases, instructors trained officers to use force against a lone person because a bystander might show up.

Officers use unreasonable force “to rapidly dominate encounters, often within the first few moments,” according to the report.

Police trainers also taught officers to use Tasers against a person in a behavioral health crisis if they don’t comply because they pose a future threat.

“One trainer suggested immediate force stops a situation ‘before you really have to hurt someone,’ and explained that ‘de-escalation, like talking nice, will get someone killed,’” the report read.

Kriplean said he has never been taught to escalate a situation in his 30 years as an officer with the city.

Police ‘routinely’ use dangerous neck restraints inappropriately

Officers often apply pressure or body weight on handcuffed people's heads, necks or backs, according to the report, even as people appear distressed or say they cannot breathe.

Phoenix police have used these techniques on people who were suspected of minor offenses, like trespassing or drug use, and on people suffering from behavioral health crises who pose no risk to officers or others, investigators found.

Such restraints are only justified when an individual poses a significant risk of injury or death, according to the Justice Department.

In one incident outlined in the report, officers surrounded a suicidal man sitting alone in his car, who began to cry and asked, “What have I done?” Police pulled him onto the pavement, where four officers restrained him face down for several minutes. One officer knelt on his neck, and another Tased him in the back before he lost consciousness.

In another incident, an officer applied a chokehold as a man gasped for breath, went limp and tapped his hand to indicate submission, according to the report. Another officer egged his colleague on: “Keep going. He doesn’t get to tap.”

The Police Department banned the use of the controversial “carotid control” used in the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In its place, the department expanded the use of “compassionate restraint,” including other forms of neck restraints.

A department-wide training video introduced the techniques to those who consider themselves “a big fan of the carotid” and “really miss it,” the report states. One trainer remarked, “The idea of compassionate restraint is I decide how compassionate I am going to be based on the given circumstances.”

Officers' interactions with kids leave them 'traumatized and degraded'

The Justice Department found the Phoenix Police Department “does not take into account the vulnerability of children and their stage of development” in its policing practices.

“During encounters with children over minor issues — sometimes where no crime has been committed — PhxPD officers escalate situations with combative language and needless force,” the report reads.

In one instance, officers handcuffed and used neck restraints on a 13-year-old autistic boy who had walked out of school without permission, which left him with abrasions on his arms and neck.

Treatment of young people: Officers can disrespect them, DOJ report on Phoenix says

In another instance, two officers threw a 15-year-old Latino boy against a pole, unlawfully searched his backpack without a warrant and handcuffed him after he asked to call his mom. The officers had seen him “briefly look inside a truck in a car dealership’s parking lot during business hours, then leave to catch the bus.” They followed him onto the bus and ordered him off, the report said. The boy listened to them but asked "Why?" when an officer demanded he take off his backpack. From there, the interaction escalated quickly, starting with this response from the officer: "Because I (expletive) told you to."

Nearly every child the department interviewed “complained officers closed handcuffs on their wrists so tightly that they reached the point of pain and injury,” which the Justice Department determined was unconstitutional. Children also told the department that officers’ comments “left them feeling traumatized and degraded.”

The Justice Department also found multiple incidents in which Phoenix police unlawfully questioned children without informing them of their right to remain silent or right to call an attorney.

Phoenix Police Department provides inadequate supervision of officers

In a scathing admonition of Police Department leadership, the report said officers received little oversight of their use-of-force practices and supervisors, at times, "even validate unlawful practices."

Phoenix police supervisors determined that 98.7% of force incidents complied with policy in 2021 and 99.4% in 2022, the report found, and every one of the more than 6,000 incidents in which an officer pointed a gun at a person was found to be "reasonable and within policy."

Supervisors do not interview people involved in use-of-force incidents, such as witnesses and victims, and sometimes review incidents involving themselves. Other types of force relating to hand maneuvers that can "inflict considerable pain" are not reviewed at all, according to the Justice Department.

"As a result, unlawful behavior continues unabated," the report concludes.

Controversial findings: DOJ says Phoenix police systematically used illegal excessive force. Reaction ranges from outrage to caution

Republic reporter Shawn Raymundo contributed to this article.

Reach the reporters at [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Unexpected findings in Justice Department report about Phoenix police