Two investigations by Phoenix Police Department into officer-involved incidents weren’t up to snuff, according to a pair of reports the city’s Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT) released this week.
The OAT said the Department's Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) didn’t completely investigate the allegation of racial bias in the detainment and wrongful search of a Wall Street Journal reporter in November 2022.
And it claims the investigation into another late 2022 incident, involving an officer’s use of force, also fell short, adding that “the Department represented to the media, and thus the public, that this matter was being investigated by PSB” when that was not necessarily the case. OAT noted that while it “recognizes that PSB played a role in this investigation by interviewing the Involved Officer, it was notably minor.”
According to the reports, investigators failed to ask about these key allegations with the involved officers, or review important body cam footage in one case.
Interim Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the department would review the reports before sharing its response with OAT and the public.
