PHOENIX — The city of Phoenix and its police force have launched a new website in response to a recent damning report from the US Department of Justice that found a pattern of excessive force and racial discrimination.
The website contains incident reports, bodycam footage and evidence from cases cited in the report. The city provided federal investigators with approximately 179,000 documents and 22,000 bodycam videos during their investigation.
Interim Police Chief Michael Sullivan said in a statement that such information is critical to understanding the incidents included in the Justice Department report.
“These materials are important for our community to see and essential for the city to analyze as we strive to be a self-assessing and self-correcting department,” Sullivan said.
City Manager Jeff Barton said the website represents a commitment to accountability and transparency and will give the public access to “the facts.”
The Justice Department report did not provide specific information, such as incident counts or dates. However, Phoenix officials said city staff were able to identify many of the events and upload related material to the site.
The city’s website also includes information about what Phoenix calls its “path to reform” and what the police department is doing to reduce the number of use-of-force incidents.
Sullivan said the city is analyzing DOJ’s 37 recommendations and comparing them to actions the police department has already taken to improve policies, training and other systems. Part of the study is understanding how police systems currently capture performance metrics and where the department can improve.
City officials say data will determine how public safety can be improved.
Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the country. Similar DOJ investigations in AlbuquerqueIn New Mexico, Baltimore and elsewhere, systemic problems have been found involving excessive force and civil rights violations. Some problems have led to costly consent decrees that have dragged on for years.
As of April 2021, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division says that 11 pattern-of-practice investigations launched in law enforcement agencies. That includes those in Phoenix, Minneapolis and Louisville. It currently enforces consent decrees with 12 law enforcement agencies.
