The U.S. Department of Justice gives general descriptions of incidents cited in a report on Phoenix police.
So to give the public context, the city built a digital portal with documents, body camera video and audio.
Footage of a scene described on Page 33 of the DOJ report shows officers entering a construction site where a burglary alarm was tripped days after the DOJ launched their review.
An officer gives a warning that he's sending a dog in to search and it will bite anyone hiding inside if they don't come out.
A voice answers that he is in an adjacent room.
But the officer doesn't recall the dog. The reason, according to city records, was the man didn’t obey commands.
Phoenix police investigated and determined what happened was within policy.
The DOJ says the dog bit the man for 47 seconds, most of which were after he was handcuffed.
Photos show his right arm with bloody punctures and cuts.
K9s, wrist holds, tasers and foam projectiles are examples of options for less-lethal force that police can use to resolve a situation. A revised policy detailing when Phoenix officers can resort to violence is designed to better collect and analyze data on uses-of-force. But the DOJ says Phoenix police employ tactics like these unreasonably.
“The federal government stepping in is a technical solution to an adaptive problem. The police department needs to want to change for change to happen,” said Brendan Mahoney.
Mahoney is an attorney who once led a city commission assigned to investigate claims of discrimination. He was also a senior adviser to former Mayor and current Congressman Greg Stanton.
Mahoney said the mayor and council depend on the city manager to run Phoenix.
“The city manager is the only person in Phoenix in charge of the Police Department,” said Mahoney.
A request by KJZZ News to interview City Manager Jeff Barton was denied.
In a recent statement, Barton said city officials look forward to collaborative conversations with the DOJ.
The DOJ writes that using force quickly is a defining aspect of excessive violence by Phoenix police. But some who wear a badge reject that.
“That report, for anyone who has taken the time to read it, is very inflammatory. It uses specific wording to incite certain people, I think, within the community,” said Darrell Kriplean, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association.
PLEA is a powerful labor union of rank-and-file officers which was against federal oversight before the report was even made public in June.
“I don’t think we're a perfect agency because there are no such things and I think we can always do things better. But from that report, it's hard to glean what exactly, what parts are accurate, and what parts are left to … they were misconstrued,” said Kriplean.
The DOJ says Phoenix police act unreasonably with less-lethal tools and don’t give people enough time to follow orders.
Kriplean said there are scenarios, such as arresting a dangerous fugitive, when using too many commands can put officers in danger.
“So sometimes it's better to shock the system of the person that you're trying to take (in.) Disorient them in (order) to take them into custody,” said Kriplean.
Kriplean said the roughly 125 incidents cited by federal officials happened over a period of years when Phoenix police responded to about 6 million calls, and those statistics don’t prove a pattern or practice of unconstitutional behavior.
Still, the DOJ says the culture of Phoenix police is force-first, and the word systemic appears six times in its report.
“It found that the officers are told they can use serious force to address hypothetical concerns and not actual danger,” said Larry Wulkan, an attorney with experience representing Phoenix and people who sue the city. “One of the things that I've seen for years in my cases, and something that the DOJ recognized, was that Phoenix police officers often use restraints and chokeholds that put people at risk for asphyxiation and suffocation.”
Wulkan found it surprising that the DOJ report hardly mentions labor unions. He said PLEA has an outsize political presence that draws attention from the media and the city council.
“And it has the ear of the city manager, who is directly responsible for the Phoenix Police Department,” said Wulkan.
Revised policy organizes uses of force into three categories based on seriousness. All incidents will be subject to internal review. The yet-to-be fully implemented revisions also require Phoenix police to intervene against misconduct by other officers.
“The final policy that we have, I believe, is going to be good for not only the community that we serve, but the officers who are out there working day in and day out to ensure the community’s safety,” said Kriplean.
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KJZZ's "Policing the Police" series examines the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation of Phoenix by section, as well as the city's efforts to self-impose reforms. -
Our "Policing the Police" series examines the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation of Phoenix by section, as well as the city's efforts to self-impose reforms. This time, KJZZ News focuses on the finding that Phoenix police don't change their approach when dealing with children. -
KJZZ's "Policing the Police" series examines the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation of Phoenix by section, as well as the city's efforts to self-impose reforms. This report focuses on the finding by the DOJ that Phoenix police unlawfully restrict free speech. -
Our "Policing the Police" series examines the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation of Phoenix as well as the city's efforts to self-impose reforms. This time, KJZZ News examines the finding that the city of Phoenix and its police discriminate against people with mental illnesses. -
KJZZ's "Policing the Police" series examines the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation of Phoenix by section, as well as the city's efforts to self-impose reforms. This report focuses on the DOJ finding that police discriminated against Black, Hispanic and Native American people when enforcing the law. -
KJZZ's "Policing the Police" series examines the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation of Phoenix by section, as well as the city's efforts to self-impose reforms. This report focuses on homelessness. -
Our "Policing the Police" series examines the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation of Phoenix by section, as well as the city's efforts to self-impose reforms. KJZZ News has divided the findings on use of force into deadly and less lethal. This report focuses on fatal police shootings.
