A top Republican state lawmaker hopes Trump administration appointees at the Justice Department will end the agency’s efforts to oversee the Phoenix Police Department.
Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, the Justice Department released a scathing report that found Phoenix police routinely violated civil rights, and that officers were unconstitutionally violent and discriminated against citizens based on race.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) said the report is nothing more than a "witch hunt."
In a letter to the DOJ, Petersen asked President Donald Trump’s top civil rights attorney to end the agency’s push for a court-appointed monitor to oversee the Phoenix Police Department.
Petersen also said he spoke with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi about the issue on a recent trip to Washington, D.C.
Petersen claims that the negative information in the previous administration’s report was just a way for “radical activists” to target law enforcement.
He cited claims by the Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association that the DOJ did not report all the facts of the situation accurately.
Petersen congratulated U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon for being confirmed in her new role and asked her to prevent a binding agreement known as a consent decree from being passed.
Petersen wrote that a consent decree would be expensive and discourage police officers from doing their jobs.
Petersen said he’s concerned that federally appointed monitors won’t be responsible to community concerns.
“These consent decrees are nothing more than backhanded attempts to hijack police departments and bring them under the control of the federal government. The consent decrees are unconstitutional and exploited by overreaching presidential administrations,” Petersen wrote.
-
One exception to the ordinance allows automatic license plate reader data gathered by another agency to be used by Tempe police working on multijurisdictional task forces, so long as they don’t request a system query. -
Arizona’s Executive Tower, which houses the Governor’s Office and Secretary of State’s Office, was evacuated Thursday afternoon after staff received an envelope filled with white powder. -
Police in Las Vegas are poised to settle a mystery Thursday by publicly revealing the identity of a man whose body was found in a barrel in Lake Mead. The discovery by boaters in 2022 sparked memories of the city's mob era, which ended in the mid-1980s. -
Tempe police announced nearly 100 additional charges against a former Corona Del Sol employee who was accused of downloading videos of girls changing in the dance room while the girl’s locker room was under renovation. -
Maricopa County is appealing to the 9th U.S. Circuit a federal judge’s September decision to not end independent oversight of the Sheriff’s Office.
