Arizona law enforcement officials are warning against a federal consent decree for the City of Phoenix Police Department.
Earlier this month, the Arizona Sheriffs’ Association sent a letter to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, highlighting their members’ “complete opposition to any additional federal oversight of local law enforcement in the state of Arizona.”
The letter, sent by Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes and Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse, wrote that “the unintended but far-reaching consequences of federal oversight in Phoenix are of great concern to all law enforcement agencies in Arizona.” They noted the exorbitant costs of such decrees – most recently in Arizona’s backyard with Maricopa County, which has shelled out “$250 million of taxpayer funds in the last 16 years including on court monitors who have a disconnect between their mandate and experience, and their investment in the community.”
Sheriffs Rhodes and Clouse pointed out “the failure of the DOJ to help Arizona secure its borders” as another strike against the federal government’s ability to effectively commandeer a local police department, let alone to maintain its constitutionally tasks. They stated, “The DOJ has the authority and powers to also initiate a civil rights investigation into the Department of Homeland Security and as of yet has not. One does not need to look far to see the extraordinary constitutional violations occurring at our southwest border at the hands of the DHS. We find this inequity hypocritical considering the serious public safety implications manifesting from this failure.”
The association promised its complete support to Phoenix “in rejecting an offer of negotiation or consent decree by the DOJ,” adding the sheriffs would “stand behind you in forcing litigation to shine the light for all your citizens onto the allegations.” They asserted that “the necessary oversight of your police force can be done internally, with confidence from your constituents and other law enforcement agencies.”
Just days after the sheriffs transmitted this letter, the City of Phoenix sent one of its own to the DOJ, requesting “that the Department of Justice commit to negotiating in good faith a technical assistance letter with the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department, with assurances sufficient to reassure the DOJ that the City and PPD will continue with the reforms they are in the process of implementing.” The City’s letter accused the DOJ of operating its investigation with “a lack of transparency,” alleging the federal team “has declined to meaningfully share its observations, impressions, concerns, or tentative conclusions with the City of Phoenix, PPD, or their counsel despite numerous requests, and has rejected a specific request for a mid-investigation briefing.”
According to the City of Phoenix, “a technical assistance letter would allow the DOJ to provide Phoenix remedial recommendations and mechanisms to ensure proper implementation without the presence of a court enforced consent decree and monitor.”
The city argued that its Interim Chief, Michael G. Sullivan, has helped to enact meaningful reforms over “virtually every aspect of the operations implicated by the DOJ investigation.” City officials made the case that Sullivan’s changes “demonstrate a powerful commitment to reform, a commitment that warrants a different approach from the DOJ than has been the case over the past dozen years.”
Late last year, Arizona State Representative David Marshall and 20 of his colleagues in the chamber sent a letter to City of Phoenix officials, asking them to “swiftly reject any consent decree proposed by the DOJ and challenge the findings in the forthcoming DOJ report.”
🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE🚨 Arizona House Republicans Urge Phoenix Mayor to Reject Federal Control of Police Department
“To preserve Arizona’s sovereignty consistent with our state constitution, you must reject the DOJ’s coercive consent decree.”
The request from these representatives followed other petitions from Arizona officials who oppose the imposition of a consent decree upon the city’s police department. Earlier last fall, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell posted her displeasure with the principle of federal monitoring of law enforcement departments, writing, “Look no further than MCSO to see what ‘federal monitoring’ does to agencies. Monitors (people paid to determine whether an agency is in compliance) have ZERO incentive to find compliance. It will cost the taxpayers MILLIONS and crime will increase.”
Look no further than MCSO to see what "federal monitoring" does to agencies. Monitors (people paid to determine whether an agency is in compliance) have ZERO incentive to find compliance. It will cost the taxpayers MILLIONS and crime will increase.@MCSOAZ@andybiggs4az… https://t.co/InGA5Vs3lc
— Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (@Rachel1Mitchell) November 4, 2023
City of Phoenix Councilmember Ann O’Brien also wrote an op-ed for the Arizona Republic, voicing her sentiments regarding any arrangement handed down from the DOJ. In her piece, O’Brien wrote, “I have no intention of signing anything given to us by the Department of Justice without getting to read their findings first. That’s the thing: the DOJ gets agencies to sign an agreement in principle before ever releasing their findings, which essentially means that agency will negotiate a consent decree in good faith. Not Phoenix.”
Per the City of Phoenix’s information, the DOJ’s Civil Pattern or Practice investigation into the Phoenix Police Department “is the 71st investigation of its kind since the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.” If DOJ finds “patterns or practices of misconduct,” then Phoenix will likely find itself with a federal monitor.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The Grand Canyon State is one of the best in the country for starting a business.
According to a recently released report from WalletHub, Arizona ranked sixth in the nation for entrepreneurs looking to start a business. The 2024 Best & Worst States to Start a Business report had Utah as the number-one ranked state in the country and Rhode Island as the last-ranked. Two of Arizona’s other neighbors, Nevada and Colorado, came in at fifth and seventh, respectively.
Cassandra Happe, a WalletHub Analyst, said, “Starting a business is a difficult and risky process, but where you live can highly influence your chances of success. Before establishing a business in any location, make sure to do research to ensure it’s an ideal place for your customer base, has enough labor and supplier availability, and suits your needs when it comes to financing.”
Happe pointed to Utah’s great “access to loans” and “largest annual employment growth in the country” as two major indicators for its first place showing in the report.
The report factored average growth in number of small businesses, labor costs, availability of human capital, average length of work week (in hours), and cost of living. Arizona ranked sixth and seventh in small business growth and human capital, respectively; yet fell to twenty-fifth in both labor costs and work week hours, and twenty-seventh in cost of living.
In a separate WalletHub study, Best Large Cities to Start a Business, Scottsdale and Phoenix appeared in the top-30, at twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth, respectively. Three east valley cities, Gilbert, Chandler, and Mesa, clocked in at thirty-first, thirty-fifth, and thirty-eighth, respectively. Glendale and Tucson were noted at forty-sixth and fifty-first, respectively.
WalletHub gave several tips to men and women contemplating a business start-up. Those suggestions were as follows:
Thoroughly Research Your Market
Create a Solid Business Plan
Focus on a Unique Value Proposition
Choose a City that Fits Your Needs Well
Manage Finances Wisely
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes pledged to have his office take a more assertive posture against misinformation for the 2024 election.
Fontes made the promise during an interview with 12 News on Sunday. The secretary of state said that his office would even take on the speech of other elected officials, if need be.
“You’re going to see a much more assertive attitude against folks who are lying about elections,” said Fontes. “What they’re doing is creating mistrust between regular citizens where there shouldn’t be any. None of the allegations about fraud, none of the Big Lie has been proven true.”
Fontes didn’t deny that his office may take legal action against perceived misinformation. As an example of the type of misinformation his office would target, Fontes said that Arizona voters use paper ballots — not voting machines — to cast their vote.
“We’re not going to play the role of victim. What we’re going to do is come right out and speak directly to the voters,” said Fontes. “When somebody says, ‘Well, you’ve got a problem with voting machines in Arizona.’ Well, guess what, we don’t have voting machines in Arizona. We vote on paper ballots; every ballot in Arizona has always been cast on paper ballots. You saying ‘voting machines’ is a lie. That’s the kind of assertiveness we’re going to have in our communications strategy.”
Technically, “voting machines” are those pieces of equipment that record votes electronically without paper. Arizona doesn’t have voting machines, but it does have equipment to tabulate votes, which are cast by paper ballot.
Since taking office, Fontes has pledged to combat mis- and disinformation. Fontes declared that election disinformation amounted to “terrorism” and the individuals behind the rhetoric were “fascists” in an interview with MSNBC shortly after being sworn into office. Fontes urged the public to “attack” the election disinformation.
“These new American fascists, these MAGA fascists — you call them denialists, they are fascists — we need to call them who they are,” said Fontes. “We’ve got to stop pretending that their feelings matter. These are people who are threatening the lives of our neighbors, our family members, and they’re threatening the health of our democracy.”
Vigor and strength. That’s the only way we protect our election workers and fight back against disinformation. Thank you @AliVelshi for speaking with me. https://t.co/XbZmJuQNgp
Fontes’ predecessor, now Gov. Katie Hobbs, also took an assertive posture against misinformation regarding elections. Hobbs coordinated with the Center for Internet Security (CIS), a government-funded organization, to censor online speech concerning the 2020 election.
Hobbs’ former chief of staff, Allie Bones, told reporters around the time of Hobbs’ inauguration that it was the job of governments to remove disinformation from the public square.
Hobbs was one among many government officials that coordinated with social media companies to suppress and censor speech on major public issues. Last fall, the Supreme Court agreed to take up a case concerning this coordination, Murthy v. Missouri. The court also granted a request from the Biden administration to block a lower court’s order preventing government officials from communicating with social media companies regarding content moderation policies.
Hobbs’ actions inspired the creation of a new ad hoc committee in the state legislature to review government officials’ relationships with social media companies. That House Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight, Accountability, and Big Tech convened three times in September, October, and December.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
WalletHub, a personal-finance website, measured the gaps between black people and white people across 22 key indicators of equality in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data set includes median annual household income, standardized-test scores, and voter turnout.
Hawaii placed first for most racially integrated state, followed by Arizona, New Mexico, and Washington State. Other top ten states were Kentucky, Alaska, Delaware, Texas, Georgia, and Maryland.
“It’s encouraging to see that many of the states that were the most resistant to integration have made substantial progress toward racial equality in the past fifty years or so,” Wallethub analyst Cassandra Happe said in a news release. “In fact, four of the states that have made the most racial progress overall are actually now among the top 10 most integrated states, which shows that both people’s attitudes and government policies have changed dramatically.”
Arizona ranked highly in areas concerning equality in the labor force participation rate and health.
“It’s encouraging to see that many of the states that were the most resistant to integration have made substantial progress toward racial equality in the past fifty years or so,” Happe said. “In fact, four of the states that have made the most racial progress overall are actually now among the top 10 most integrated states, which shows that both people’s attitudes and government policies have changed dramatically.”
The Grand Canyon State’s total score from WalletHub was 73.86.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
Female athletes will rally to “save women’s sports” from biological male athletes on Thursday.
Current and former NCAA female athletes, coaches, and parents will bring signs and chants outside the 2024 National Collegiate Athletic Association Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, to ask the organization to stop discriminating against female athletes by allowing males to compete in women and girls’ sports.
“Female athletes work our entire lives to compete in sports, only to have the NCAA destroy our even playing field. This devalues female athletes and women in general,” said former NCAA swimming champion and Independent Women’s Forum ambassador Riley Gaines. “Sex-based categories are important for competitive sports just like age classifications and weight categories. We are asking very little of the NCAA. Maintain the fairness necessary for competition and safety.”
The theme of this year’s rally, sponsored by Our Bodies, Our Sports, is “We Won’t Back Down,” reflecting the group’s determination to compel the NCAA to revoke its Transgender Student-Athlete Participation Policy.
The policy allows transgender student-athlete participation for each sport to be determined by the national governing body of that sport. As a result, males who identify as females can participate in women’s sports if they suppress their testosterone for at least one year and achieve levels set by the governing bodies of their particular sport.
Hormone injections do not eliminate the male athletic advantage over females, according to a review of the scientific literature by the Independent Women’s Law Center and the Independent Women’s Forum. Without any male athletic advantage, the participation of males in women’s sports takes away opportunities for women to compete, IWF and IWLC say.
Gaines will be joined by fellow swimmers Paula Scanlan and Kaylee Alons, and volleyball player Macy Petty, to continue to call on NCAA President Charlie Baker to meet with them to hear how they were hurt by men in women’s sports.
“Shame on Charlie Baker for continuing to enforce this discriminatory policy,” said Jennifer C. Braceras, vice president for Legal Policy at Independent Women’s Form and founder of Independent Women’s Law Center. “The NCAA may not be bound by Title IX, but the schools that make up its membership are, and the NCAA has an obligation to help its member schools comply with equal opportunity mandates, not subvert them.”
The athletes, coaches, parents, and sponsor organizations will deliver a new demand letter and petition to the NCAA signed by thousands of female athletes from across the country after the rally.
This event is the fourth Our Bodies, Our Sports event. Previous events include the 2022 rally in Washington, D.C., to mark the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, the 2023 rally at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio, TX, and the 2023 rally at the USA Cycling National Championships in Knoxville, TN.
The Tennessee rally succeeded in pushing Union Cycliste Internationale to bar biological male athletes from competing in the women’s cycling division.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
