EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen is asking the Division of Justice to scrap a report that might result in intense federal oversight of the Phoenix Police Division.
In a letter to newly sworn-in Assistant Legal professional Common for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, Petersen requested the DOJ to retract a report from the Biden administration about civil rights points throughout the division. The report would basically attempt to get the town of Phoenix to comply with excessive federal involvement by means of the DOJ.
The June 2024 report mentioned that the division and the town “interact in a sample or observe of conduct that violates the U.S. Structure and federal regulation,” together with “extreme drive” and discriminatory practices towards minorities and homeless individuals.
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The Phoenix Police Division mentioned it responded to the incident. (Phoenix Police Division)
“The DOJ’s report contained a number of biased and inaccurate findings towards the Metropolis’s Police Division, placing Phoenix on a path for a damaging and expensive consent decree that might discourage our courageous women and men in blue from decreasing crime and defending harmless Phoenicians. It could even have an amazing influence on the company’s capacity to recruit and retain sufficient officers to service our communities report,” Petersen wrote.
Petersen argued that if the police division went underneath a consent decree with the DOJ, it might create comparable challenges to what the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Workplace offers with now after coming underneath a consent decree in 2015, which is anticipated to exceed a $310 million price ticket within the coming months, the Republican lawmaker argued.
“Former Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, a Democrat, resigned from his place final yr, largely, on account of frustration from the consent decree hanging over his workplace. He mentioned, ‘I’ll be damned if I do three phrases underneath federal courtroom oversight, for a debt I by no means incurred, and never be capable to serve this group within the method that I might should you took the opposite hand from being tied behind my again. As a result of the long run with out regulation enforcement doesn’t look good,’” he mentioned.
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Harmeet Dhillon greets President Trump after he arrives aboard Air Pressure One at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, Calif. to attend a Republican Celebration fundraiser at an undisclosed location on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. (Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle by way of Getty Photographs)
He acknowledged that the division has pushed for reforms on their phrases, saying that there must be accountability for points with “rogue police companies or officers,” however famous that this isn’t the best way to go about it.
“Briefly, these consent decrees are nothing greater than backhanded makes an attempt to hijack police departments and convey them underneath the management of the federal authorities,” he added. “The consent decrees are unconstitutional and exploited by overreaching presidential administrations.”
Earlier than being elected to the Senate, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego used his official Home workplace to write down to the Biden DOJ voicing opposition to a consent decree in August.
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Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen speaks throughout a rally for vice presidential nominee JD Vance at Arizona Christian College on July 31, 2024. (Imagn)
“I strongly urge DOJ to think about getting into right into a technical help letter with the Metropolis of Phoenix fairly than proceed to pursue a consent decree,” Gallego wrote. “Whereas the DOJ raises a number of legitimate factors in its findings report, each PPD and the Metropolis of Phoenix already welcome reforms to advance the mission to guard Phoenix’s residents from crime and safeguard their civil rights.”
Whereas Biden was nonetheless in workplace, many progressives within the state argued that there must be federal accountability for the company.
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“Phoenix PD wants federal oversight,” the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted in October 2024 following an incident by which officers allegedly severely mistreated a deaf, disabled Black man, Tyron McAlpin, who’s now suing the town and the places of work concerned. His prices have been scrapped, and the officers acquired a 24-hour suspension, in response to Fox 10 Phoenix.
The DOJ didn’t reply in time to Fox Information Digital for remark.
