The Phoenix City Council set an end-of-March deadline for crews that handle certain crisis calls without police officers, firefighters or paramedics to have availability around the clock.
Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee members are scheduled to get an update Wednesday on the Community Assistance Program.
The order to establish 24/7 dispatch coverage came down in September, months after civil rights investigators for the U.S. Justice Department said the city and its police discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities.
City officials say the number of police calls transferred to crisis intervention supervisors spiked last year to roughly 2,000. There’s a supervisor available to work dispatch about two-thirds of the time.
Behavioral health units and crisis response teams are currently on the road for all but a combined seven-and-a-half hours per week.
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The relationship between Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller and the Board of Supervisors has been rocky since a legal fight started over Miller unilaterally signing up to work with ICE. -
Court records show both settlements stem from negligence claims filed after traffic accidents involving on-duty officers who were driving. -
Learn more about the candidates for the 2026 race for Arizona attorney general. -
Yuma physician Irfan Fazil has been convicted on four felony counts related to a massive fraud scheme against AHCCCS — the state’s Medicaid system. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office says Fazil billed patients for services they never received. -
The Pinal County Sheriff's Office says they received a call for a welfare check around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday near Empire Boulevard and Gary Road in San Tan Valley. When they arrived, they found a 16-year-old boy with life-threatening injuries.
