3 Phoenix police chief finalists pitch themselves during public Q&A

Phoenix is one step closer to having a permanent police chief for the first time in years after a trio of finalists for the job took part in a public forum Monday.

The Justice Department recently ended a years-long civil rights investigation of Phoenix police and retracted its findings.

Each finalist to be chief was asked what comes next.

Matt Giordano, retired Phoenix police commander and current executive director of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, said Phoenix police would not resume old practices.

“It should never happen. We should always be moving forward, always evolving policing to the expectations of the community that we serve,” Giordano said.

Finalist Malik Aziz, current chief of police for the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland, said problems identified by federal investigators have not gone away.

“There are people who are expecting some results and some actions to go along with the core findings of the DOJ report,” Aziz said.

Finalist Mirtha Ramos, current chief of police of the DeKalb County Police Department in Georgia, said the department should hold town halls about the report and reforms the city and department have launched in response.

Each finalist was also asked if local authorities should be involved with immigration enforcement.

Ramos said if she’s chief, the only role for Phoenix police would be protecting federal agents in danger.

“If we start enforcing immigration, we’re going to create a divide and a mistrust with that community,” Ramos said.

Phoenix police have said they were not involved in a recent immigration crackdown.

A petition set to go before the city council this week would ban spending city funds on catching undocumented people.