State, local leaders react after DOJ drops investigation into Phoenix Police Department

PHOENIX – State and local leaders reacted Wednesday after the Department of Justice dropped its civil rights investigation into the Phoenix Police Department.

“This is going to help recruiting and this will help the morale issue,” Darrell Kriplean, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.

The union leader was referring to the Trump administration closing investigations into six police departments, including Phoenix, and retracting all findings of civil rights violations.

“That’s a huge black cloud over any department to have to deal with the monster machine of the Department of Justice, who feel like they can just act with impunity and really operate in any way they want,” Kriplean said.

Kriplean believes the news will help Phoenix in its ongoing search for a new police chief.

“I don’t see how it couldn’t be helpful, to be honest,” he said.

The city whittled the field down to four finalists earlier this year but reopened the nationwide search last month after interim Chief Michael Sullivan withdrew his candidacy and stepped down.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said the city’s commitment to police reform won’t change.

“We will continue to look for every opportunity to make sure we’re serving our residents in the best way possible,” she said in a statement. “I said many times that we would adopt reforms and see them through, regardless of the DOJ investigation, and I meant it.”

Threat of consent decree was hanging over Phoenix Police Department

Federal authorities were seeking a consent decree in the wake of last year’s report on its yearslong Phoenix probe. If the consent decree had been implemented, it would have led to expensive and restrictive court oversight.

“Today is a win for local law enforcement, Phoenix residents, and, most importantly, federalism,” Supervisor Thomas Galvin, chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement.

Local leaders are well aware of how disruptive a consent decree can be. Maricopa County has spent over a quarter-billion dollars on compliance costs, legal fees and monitoring staff since a 2013 racial profiling verdict against the sheriff’s office under Joe Arpaio.

“I will continue to fight on behalf of taxpayers and against the judicial oversight of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department, which has cost taxpayers $352 million,” Galvin said.

What are other state and local leaders saying?

U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh and Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, who have been urging the Trump administration to retract the Phoenix investigation, also issued statements on Wednesday.

“Today’s announcement is complete vindication and will remove the handcuffs off our law enforcement so that they may do their jobs to keep the city of Phoenix and our citizens safe from criminals seeking to cause harm,” Petersen said.

“As I noted in my communications with Trump administration officials, our officers did everything right, voluntarily cooperating in good faith, opening their records and participating in lengthy interviews,” Hamadeh said. “They were met with stonewalling, mischaracterized testimony, and a final report riddled with glaring inaccuracies.”

Phoenix Vice Mayor Ann O’Brien also has been pushing for a conclusion to the probe, noting that police reform efforts have been underway for years.

“I have always been a strong proponent that the City Council is capable of making necessary changes without costly federal oversight and expressed that during my recent visit to the White House. As of this morning, it would appear the White House agrees. Phoenix is capable of self-correction,” she said in a statement.

Not everyone was happy about the investigation ending. Community activist group Poder in Action expressed disappointment.

“While this is not surprising, it is deeply concerning,” the group said in a statement. “Attempting to erase or rewrite history is a tactic straight from the playbook of authoritarian regimes across the world.”

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