Letter: Rep. Ruben Gallego opposes consent decree between DOJ and Phoenix PD

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego opposes a consent decree between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Phoenix Police Department, according to a new letter obtained by Arizona’s Family Investigates.

The letter comes on the heels of Gallego being endorsed by the Arizona Police Association in his U.S. Senate campaign.

“I am deeply concerned that DOJ’s approach to PPD misses the mark, could impose overly burdensome costs, and ultimately have unintended consequences that will undermine the safety of our community,” the letter opens, stating that while the Justice Department has investigated the department for three years, its report has only found about 120 “unspecified incidents” across eight years of data and across six million calls for service.

“This amounts to an exceptionally small fraction of one percent of all service calls,” Rep. Gallego wrote.

In addition, Gallego claims that 12 of the cases brought up in the report were addressed by the police department’s Continuous Improvement Unit, which he says demonstrates “a clear commitment to upholding the law and the high standards of conduct expected of police.”

In recent days, Phoenix city officials have launched a website detailing responses to the cases and findings reported by federal investigators.

In one instance, Gallego says a deemed Constitutional violation was already reviewed by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, part of the DOJ itself, which found that no civil rights violation had occurred.

The lawmaker adds that if the City of Phoenix were to enter such an agreement, close to $50 million would be spent, placing a burden on taxpayers and possibly initiating a staffing crisis at a time when it is already difficult to recruit and retain officers.

Instead, Gallego proposes a “technical assistance letter,” which he says would streamline monitoring by the feds and can co-exist with the ongoing reforms currently being done by PPD.

“To that end, I strongly urge DOJ to consider entering into a technical assistance letter with the City of Phoenix rather than continue to pursue a consent decree. While the DOJ raises several valid points in its findings report, both PPD and the City of Phoenix already welcome reforms to advances the mission to protect Phoenix’s residents from crime and safeguard their civil rights,” the letter concludes.

Rep. Gallego’s opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Kari Lake, wasn’t impressed with the letter or endorsement from the Arizona Police Association, calling him a “defund the police/cop hater.”

“A meaningless letter was traded for an endorsement—An endorsement that hurts the police officers who put their lives on the line every day. Knowing that their union endorsed an anti-cop, defund the police politician over a pro-law enforcement fighter,” Lake’s campaign said in an emailed statement. “If Ruben REALLY cared about our police, he would have written this letter a year ago to the weaponized DOJ and told them to back-off.”

“It’s extremely infuriating and frustrating, but also not surprising. I think what we see is that when politicians take police endorsements, they are also the first ones to allow for police violence,” said Viri Hernandez, executive director of Poder in Action, a group that advocates for police reform.

“His district is the district with the highest levels of police violence,” she said.

Hernandez said that Phoenix police have demonstrated again and again that they will not make reforms willingly.

“We have seen that the Phoenix Police Department has not – cannot – will never – reform itself,” she said.

The Justice Department is holding a virtual community on Thursday. To register for the Zoom meeting, click/tap here.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said on Tuesday she plans to hold a policy session for the City Council on Sept. 24 to receive updates from the police department’s watchdog group, fighting homelessness and “address concerns raised by the Department of Justice.”

In January, the department released “The Road to Reform,” which details several major policy changes to improve transparency and accountability within the department and the community.

Then in June, federal officials released a 126-page report claiming that Phoenix law enforcement “violated people’s rights, discriminated against certain groups and has used excessive force, including ‘unjustified deadly force.’”

Read the full letter below:

Watch: Our most recent reports on the Phoenix Police Department investigation by the United States Department of Justice

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.