The U.S. Justice Department says Phoenix police often question people without telling them they have the right to remain silent and call a lawyer.
The Supreme Court case that gave those constitutional protections to people in police custody originated in Phoenix.
The Justice Department also says investigators saw cases in which Phoenix police kept questioning people after they had invoked rights named for Ernesto Miranda.
Miranda was questioned about a 1963 kidnapping and rape by Phoenix detective Carroll Cooley.
“(Miranda) voluntarily came to the police department. He was not under arrest. He wasn’t handcuffed or anything like that,” said Cooley, who died last year. Cooley told KJZZ in 2016 that Miranda was picked out of a lineup.
“At that point, he asked us, ‘How did I do?’ And I said, ‘You didn’t do so good, Ernie.' He says, ‘I guess I’d better tell you about it.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I think you should.’ So he told us about it and wrote the confession.”
Phoenix police did not comment on the Justice Department’s findings on Miranda rights.
The department says a thorough review of details, allegations and events in the 100-plus page report continues.
