Phoenix Police chief says review underway to ensure no other victims of fired, arrested officers

Phoenix Police Chief Matt Giordano said the department is reviewing all body camera footage, reports and other data from the two officers who were fired and arrested after an allegedly violent, unreported traffic stop to ensure no else was victimized by the men.

An internal investigation into Antonio Felix and Luis Vasquez Jr. is ongoing. They pled not guilty Tuesday to multiple charges stemming from an Aug. 5 traffic stop, where they allegedly used force on a man and woman without filing a report about the incident or activating their body-worn cameras.

“We have a robust bureau called the Organizational Integrity Bureau, and they’re actually combing through all of their previous stops,” Giordano said during an ABC 15 town hall.

“It’s very labor intensive. We look through body-worn cameras. … All our vehicles have automatic vehicle locator [AVL] systems in them. So, they’re going through that. … They’re going through reports. They’re looking at their use of the mobile data computer in the car, and they’re correlating what they’re doing during their shifts. Because our biggest concern is that there [is] anyone else out there that had a similar situation.”

The police chief noted that there is currently no sign of other incidents involving Felix and Vasquez Jr., but he emphasized he will only be satisfied once he is absolutely sure.

He also encouraged anyone watching the town hall to report any unfair or poor treatment they’ve experienced from officers to the department or the city’s Office of Accountability and Transparency.

When Giordano was questioned on why a third party wasn’t leading the investigation into the officers, he explained that for him it was a “timing issue.”

“I was so bothered by this complaint, so bothered by the allegations that I wanted to get it resolved a quickly as possible,” he said. “One for the community and one for the internal members of our department. I wanted to show that is not acceptable behavior. When I send a case or ask another agency to take over a case for us, I lose control of the timeline. And in this case, I wanted to make sure we did that quickly.”

Phoenix Police chief believes traffic stop would have been found through ‘robust auditing procedures’

The alleged violent traffic stop and officers’ involvement was discovered due to a Tempe Police report. However, Giordano believes that the the incident would have eventually been identified through the department’s auditing process, especially since one of the officers fired his department-issued Axon Taser 29 times.

“We check body-worn camera footage. We check AVL location. We check the history. We check their productivity. … Officers are required to download their Taser. So, that Taser log would have been downloaded. And it would have been discovered to where we would have asked, ‘Hey, if you cycled your Taser this many times, where’s the report that coincides with that? What was the arrest? What call were you on? Where were you when that occurred?'” Giordano explained. “So, we would get to that. In this case, it happened so fast, we didn’t have the opportunity to do that.”

As far as how the incident is going to impact the department’s strategic plan, the police chief pointed to training and looking for ways to improve.

“We’ve changed the way we train the young men and women coming through today. We do much more scenario-based training, putting them in real life situations that they’re going to face out on the streets because we realize people learn better [that way],” Giordano said. “We also spend a lot of time on interpersonal communication because my personal bedrock is I always go back to communication. If you can communicate with someone effectively, … you can have time on your side and you can deescalate the situation and resolve it peacefully.”

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