DOJ Pushes Phoen⁠i⁠x For Cour⁠t⁠-Ordered Mon⁠i⁠⁠t⁠or⁠i⁠ng Of Pol⁠i⁠ce Depar⁠t⁠men⁠t⁠

DOJ Pushes Phoen⁠i⁠x For Cour⁠t⁠-Ordered Mon⁠i⁠⁠t⁠or⁠i⁠ng Of Pol⁠i⁠ce Depar⁠t⁠men⁠t⁠

By Paul Parisi |

On June 13, 2024, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released a critical report following a nearly three-year investigation into the Phoenix Police Department (PPD), alleging misconduct including excessive force, discrimination, and violations of homeless people’s rights. This report has prompted the DOJ to push the City of Phoenix to sign a consent decree, which would subject the PPD to court-ordered monitoring.

The report has stirred considerable debate among Phoenix city officials and residents. The DOJ’s findings have cast a spotlight on the PPD’s practices, while the proposed consent decree has raised concerns about federal overreach and its potential impact on local law enforcement.

Phoenix City Council members have voiced their concerns about the report and the implications of entering into a consent decree. Councilwoman Ann O’Brien emphasized the DOJ’s poor track record and the high costs associated with such agreements. She pointed to Seattle, where violent crime increased by 37% during its 10-year DOJ monitoring period, and Albuquerque, which saw a 53% rise in violent crime since 2015 under federal oversight. 

Closer to home, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has incurred nearly $300 million in taxpayer costs since 2015 due to federal monitoring. This undue cost to the taxpayer equates to “defunding the police.”

Consent decrees for police departments began in 1994 with the “Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act,” a legislative response to the nationally publicized police beating of Rodney King. While police brutality is unequivocally unacceptable, there is significant debate over whether federal oversight through consent decrees is the best solution. Critics argue that such measures often lead to increased bureaucracy and hinder effective policing, ultimately harming the communities they aim to protect.

Despite the DOJ’s allegations, the City of Phoenix has taken proactive steps to address issues within its police department. The PPD has implemented significant reforms, including revising use-of-force practices, purchasing body cameras, and adopting a robust accountability program. Additionally, PPD officers are the highest paid in Arizona, a strategy aimed at recruiting and retaining top talent.

The Phoenix mayor and city council, elected by local voters, have demonstrated their accountability to the community through these reforms. They have succeeded in reducing crime while training police officers in modern policing practices. This local control and responsiveness to community needs are seen by many as preferable to federal intervention.

Community support for the PPD is strong. Phoenix residents, who are intimately familiar with their community’s unique needs and challenges, overwhelmingly favor local control over federal oversight. Ronald Reagan’s famous quote, “The most terrifying words in the English language: I’m from the government and I’m here to help,” resonates with many who fear that federal intervention could do more harm than good.

Phoenix has gone out of its way to cooperate with the DOJ, making sweeping reforms on its own. The PPD’s efforts to improve transparency, accountability, and community relations demonstrate a commitment to policing excellence without the need for federal intervention.

The City of Phoenix must now decide whether to voluntarily submit to a consent decree that mandates court-ordered control of the PPD or face the possibility of being taken to federal court by the DOJ. There they will be forced to plead their case to a federal judge. 

The debate over the DOJ’s proposed consent decree is not just about police reform; it is also about maintaining local autonomy and ensuring that the residents of Phoenix have a say in how their city is governed. As Phoenix grapples with this issue, the city’s leaders and residents are urging the mayor and council to reject federal overreach and continue striving for safer streets and brighter futures through local control and community-based policing.

As the city moves forward, it remains to be seen whether the DOJ consent decree will be adopted or if Phoenix will be allowed to chart its own course, confident in its ability to manage and reform its police department without outside interference.

Paul Parisi is the Arizona Grassroots Director for Our America.

Phoenix Councilwoman Demands Drones Purchased for Police After Officers Ambushed

Phoenix Councilwoman Demands Drones Purchased for Police After Officers Ambushed

By Corinne Murdock |

Following the ambush of five Phoenix Police Department (PPD) officers during a hostage call, Councilwoman Ann O’Brien issued a memo requesting that her fellow councilmembers and Mayor Kate Gallego move to purchase drones for PPD. O’Brien explained that drones were needed during the ambush to mitigate the crisis, but that PPD didn’t have any. 

As of press time, O’Brien’s request for drones wasn’t included among the agenda items for Wednesday’s council meeting.

News of the attack on the officers made headlines internationally. As of Sunday, two of the five officers shot directly remained hospitalized. Another four officers were wounded from the shooting ambush indirectly. A total of nine officers were injured. 

The ambush took place on Friday morning around 2 am. The shooter, Morris Richard Jones III, fatally shot his ex-girlfriend, Shatifah Lobley, then shot at police as they attempted to rescue a one-month-old baby girl left on the outside doorstep of the home where the shooting occurred. The baby was unharmed. 

PPD Chief Jeri Williams said Jones’ attack “makes no sense” to her during a press conference later that day, and expressed dismay that these types of crimes happen “over and over again.” Williams said that this latest ambush was part of a greater pattern of intentional violence against police.

“This is senseless, it makes no sense. I’m trying to make rhyme and reason of this,” said Williams. “This violence has no place in our city, but it continues to happen over and over again in our city and in our country.”

Per court records, Jones was a career criminal who once went by a gang alias “Petey Gunn,” most recently released from his five-month prison sentence for conspiring to turn a profit smuggling illegal immigrants across the border in 2020. Lobley assisted Jones in the smuggling and was charged with a misdemeanor amounting to $10 in fines and time served. Jones received three years’ probation for that crime originally; however, a judge revoked his probation after he punched his ex-girlfriend in the face and stole her gun while using marijuana and cocaine — the same woman he shot and killed last Friday. Years prior to his human trafficking excursion, Jones was a Oklahoma street gang member: the Hoover Crips, located in Tulsa. After one year imprisoned for stealing a car in 2004, Jones spent seven years in prison for involvement in drug trafficking and illegal firearm possession as a felon in 2006. 

That latter crime was discovered by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Special Agent Josh Petree who was investigating criminal street gangs in the area. At the time of Jones’ conviction for possessing the firearm illegally, Jones had five outstanding misdemeanor warrants for his arrest and was heading to a location to purchase crack cocaine to sell. 

After his release on probation in 2014, Jones recommenced his previous lifestyle and would alternate between prison and probation. In 2016, Jones received another sentence of four years before receiving an early release in 2019. It appeared that Jones decided to move to Arizona between his 2019 release and his 2020 arrest. 

PPD will release body camera footage of the incident on February 25. 

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.