Phoenix asks DOJ to let city reform police without any federal oversight

Corrections & Clarifications: In a previous version of this article, a quote about the Phoenix City Council was misattributed. The quote came during a public comment period.

Phoenix officials are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to sign an agreement that commits the city to reforming its Police Department without federal oversight from a judge or independent monitor.

The Justice Department launched an investigation into the Phoenix Police Department in August 2021, promising to look into claims of excessive use of force by Phoenix officers, retaliation against protesters, discriminatory policing practices and the department's response to people with disabilities or who were experiencing homelessness.

An attorney for the city sent a letter to the Justice Department on Thursday requesting a "technical assistance letter," saying Phoenix had demonstrated "a powerful commitment to reform, a commitment that warrants a different approach from the DOJ than has been the case over the past dozen years."

Phoenix police Chief Michael Sullivan said Thursday after the letter was released that Phoenix had shown its ability and commitment to reform years before the DOJ launched its investigation. It echoes what Phoenix police and legal officials have begun telling the public in a series of new community meetings.

"We can continue to reform and reform faster (by ourselves) than with federal oversight," Sullivan said.

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the agency had received the letter but declined comment.

Phoenix's campaign to avoid direct federal oversight sets up a heavyweight showdown between the nation's top law enforcement agency and the fifth-largest city and one of the biggest police departments in the United States.

Road to Reform: Read Phoenix police's report to the DOJ

What could happen after DOJ releases its report on Phoenix police

Speculation has swirled around City Hall for weeks that the DOJ will issue findings of its 2 1/2-year investigation, one of its longest into a police department, any day.

Attorney Michael Bromwich, representing the city and who previously worked as an inspector general at the Justice Department, said Phoenix and the department "could come up with something new and different ... that would be a might lighter touch" than a consent decree.

"We could agree on a set of reforms, work to implement those reforms and then invite the Justice Department back to confirm that we've made the reforms," Bromwich said.

The main focus, he said, was giving Phoenix autonomy to reform as efficiently as possible.

The DOJ has in the past used several mechanisms to resolve pattern-or-practice investigations: a consent decree, which includes oversight from a judge and independent monitor; a memorandum of understanding, which includes a judge but not a monitor; or technical assistance letter, which includes neither, Bromwich wrote on behalf of the city.

Through a technical assistance letter, the DOJ makes observations about what its investigation revealed and lays out a series of detailed recommendations on how any issues should be reformed. The letter carries no obligation and leaves the oversight in the hands of the local government.

Phoenix officials face two options: Sign an "agreement in principle" in exchange for an advanced preview of the findings report or refuse the agreement and face the findings when the public does.

The majority of council members, including Mayor Kate Gallego, said weeks ago they would reject an agreement in principle. They believe the city deserves advanced review to correct any potential inaccuracies, but they refuse to commit to federal oversight without having first evaluated the findings.

They likened such a move to accepting a blank check.

If the council continues to resist a consent decree after the report is published, the Justice Department would need to successfully sue the city to obtain a court order to enact reforms.

The tradeoff is agreeing to a consent decree without litigation gives Phoenix officials a seat at the table to negotiate the reforms whereas litigation would result in a court order where Phoenix has little, if any, say.

But if the city is successful in court, some on City Council say the costs of litigation would be well worth it to fight off the longer-term costs of federal oversight through a consent decree.

Why Phoenix is resisting DOJ oversight

Sullivan said the department regularly updates City Council on reform efforts at public meetings.

"Those are methods to hold us accountable," Sullivan said. "We also have OAT," the Office of Accountability and Transparency that monitors the police department.

City Council approved the creation of the civilian oversight office to investigate police misconduct claims in 2020. Its power was significantly restricted, however, after the state Legislature passed a series of laws targeting the office.

The city's letter, sharply critical of the oversight process, also bemoaned the Justice Department's "lack of transparency," criticized consent decrees as "lengthy, complicated, and expensive," and said the department had "developed a one-size-fits-all approach to police reform" that didn't make sense for Phoenix.

The letter from the city comes weeks after a majority of City Council signaled their resistance to any possible consent decree and represents an escalation in the increasingly tense relationship between Phoenix and the Justice Department.

The correspondence included an attached 53-page report called, "The Phoenix Police Department, The Road to Reform," documenting the "significant reforms" implemented in response to the Department of Justice Investigation.

Bromwich said the city was sending the letter and report since the Justice Department had twice rejected the city's request to review the department's findings report into Phoenix police, adding that the opacity "has caused substantial frustration and growing resistance to the prospect of federal oversight among Phoenix residents and their elected representatives."

He included criticism, he said, "to suggest they give a hard thought for whether consent decrees are the solutions that make sense in every circumstance."

Bromwich added, "I worked for the Justice Department for 12 years. I know how when you're in a bureaucracy you can get locked into a single way of doing things. ... I think it would be an improvement for the department to expand the kinds of solutions and resolutions that it deems appropriate."

A denial of a technical assistance letter from the Justice Department could tie the city up in court in a legal showdown with the feds.

Seven jurisdictions have tried — unsuccessfully in the end — to resist agreements for reform, according to a 2017 report from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

Maricopa County and Colorado City in Arizona, along with Alamance County, North Carolina; Meridian, Mississippi; Columbus, Ohio; and New Orleans resisted until the Justice Department ultimately won concessions after filing court actions. Ferguson, Missouri, entered a consent decree in response to the government's lawsuit.

Alamance County won its case against the DOJ in court, but agreed to a settlement that skirted a monitor after the DOJ appealed.

Phoenix launches community campaign, tries to reset narrative

On Tuesday night, Phoenix officials rolled out the first of a series of planned community meetings at the Mountain View Community Center near Moon Valley. In it, they sought to assure the public that reforms are already underway. They are seeking to make the case that DOJ involvement slows, rather than helps, those efforts.

The city’s presentation mentioned that monitorships are prolonged, expensive, and slow down reforms.

The city highlighted the new use of force police, trumpeting that it gathered public input and completed an internal review in months rather than years. If this had been done during a DOJ monitorship, the city claimed, it would have taken several years.

Some of the public at the meeting spoke out against the DOJ’s potential oversight, concerned the city might rollover when the time came to sign a consent decree.

“If we get somebody [on city council] that’s big on DOJ, that’s the bottom line for us as citizens. Unless city council understands what work is going on and what support we need with our police,” a woman at the meeting said during open comment.

Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com / or by phone at 480-476-6116.

Reporter Miguel Torres covers public safety for The Arizona Republic. Reach him at Miguel.Torres@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix asks DOJ to let city reform police without any federal oversight