Former DPS leader says Phoenix police need to be open about coin probe

PHOENIX – A former Arizona law enforcement agency leader said Phoenix police should conduct its own investigation into allegations that an officers’ challenge coin included hate speech.

“I think you have to do an investigation because part of the investigation is to decide whether it is misconduct or not – did it come from inside?” Frank Milstead, former director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety and onetime Mesa police chief told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Monday.

An internal probe could lead the Phoenix Police Department to “discern what’s free speech for the officers versus misconduct for the officers.”

City Manager Ed Zuercher said the city attorney’s office would launch an investigation.

ABC15 reported last week that a select group of Phoenix Police officers were in possession of coins that commemorated the day in 2017 when a man at a protest was shot with pepper spray projectiles.

The coin shows a man being hit in the groin and a phrase mocking the man on one side and the other side showed the Aug. 22 date of the incident during a protest when then-President Donald Trump visited and included a congratulatory phrase that is similar to a slogan used by hate groups.

“It just is not what you want your department to do or your officers to do … put out a coin that actually begins to make people wonder if there are racists among them,” Milstead said.

Officers typically get challenge coins to pay tribute to a special time or event.

“It’s something that people cherish,” Milstead said. “It highlights a time when [certain] people were in charge or it highlights a specific operation that somebody can go back and look at and go, ‘You know what? I was part of that.'”

The coins are about the size of a silver dollar.

Police Chief Jeri Williams said in a statement said the department would take disciplinary action against officers involved in illegal or unethical behavior.

“It’s always better in leadership to investigate and come to a conclusion and publish the conclusion,” Milstead said. “Publish it and that way everyone knows how you got to the conclusion you did.”

He said the notion that top brass supported the coin was nonsensical.

“Phoenix PD is a professional law enforcement agency. Jeri Williams cares about public trust and what goes on in the agency. I think they’ll get to the bottom of it,” Milstead said.

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