After city leaders met privately on Tuesday, Phoenix said its interim police chief will assess reform recommendations from the U.S. Justice Department in a lengthy report released this month.
When revealing their findings, the feds cited the East Coast department that Michael Sullivan used to work for as an example of where real police reform is underway.
Sullivan came to Phoenix about two years ago from Baltimore, where the police department remains under a court-enforceable-reform deal with the feds that is overseen by a monitor.
Sullivan is mentioned 13 times in the feds’ report on Phoenix.
The feds say that Sullivan has already started implementing reforms here, such as new standards for when Phoenix officers can use violence.
The Phoenix report quotes Sullivan as saying, "I saw some uses of force that made me think we need to do something different.”
Sullivan spent his last year in Baltimore as commander of the compliance bureau, working to meet goals detailed in the reform deal there.
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A new report from Human Rights First shows the number of ICE deportation flights were at a historic high again in March, even in the midst of the partial government shutdown. -
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is warning residents about an increase of construction scams targeting small guest houses and casitas commonly built in backyards. -
The Tucson Police Department recently encrypted its radio communications, effectively blocking the public from listening. -
A member of the Chandler City Council is calling for the swift completion of an internal review of an off-duty Phoenix police sergeant’s behavior at a student protest against ICE in January. -
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed “Cade’s Law: If you See Something, Say Something,” which aims to hold accountable adults who use social media or texts to push a child to take their own life.
