New Phoenix office won't launch any police investigations for 6 more months, director says

Phoenix's new Office of Accountability and Transparency will not launch its own official investigations into the city's police for another six to eight months, newly hired director Roger Smith said in his first interview with The Arizona Republic on Wednesday.

The Office was approved by Phoenix City Council last May to investigate claims of police misconduct, including police shootings and in-custody deaths. After a nationwide search, Smith was selected in November to serve as its first director. His first day in the new role was Dec. 6.

Smith previously worked as a prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, a trial attorney and for the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board. Before taking on the new role in Phoenix, Smith was administrator of the city of Cleveland's Office of Professional Standards since 2018, conducting investigations into misconduct complaints against Cleveland police.

Initial interview requests with Smith were denied until Phoenix city officials on Wednesday morning arranged one-on-one interviews between Smith and various members of the press. Each reporter was given only 10 minutes to ask their questions.

Smith, during his interview with The Republic, said he remained the Office's only staff member and was in the process of hiring more, which he estimated would take between six and eight months to completely fill. He previously said staff would include "effective" investigators and a research analyst.

The Office until then would not launch its own investigations into Phoenix police, Smith told The Republic. In the meantime, they may monitor or participate in other investigations depending on staffing levels, he added.

Smith on Wednesday also said the Office's investigations would focus on cases arising during his leadership as opposed to cases that began before he was selected as director.

"But to the extent that there's anything meaningful that can be gleaned from a past case, that's something that I might take up with the City Manager to see how exactly we should approach that," Smith said.

While the Office has yet to formally explore any cases, Smith said he's researched incidents involving Phoenix police on his own, including when an officer on Monday hit and arrested a 13-year-old girl while responding to a separate incident that did not involve her.

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"My initial thought is that that's a terrible incident, it's a terrible incident because it appears avoidable from what you see," Smith said, later adding that he's only seen video of the arrest. "But exactly who's responsible? Exactly what should result from it? Those are the kinds of things that you can only really get into after you've had an opportunity to gain all of the facts and learn all of the important things about that incident that you need to know."

Smith said he's been able to speak with some Phoenix residents who had concerns about Phoenix police, but those conversations were not being treated as formal complaints at this point. When asked what residents who would like to reach the Office should do, Smith offered the Office's phone number: 602-534-8263.

"I am happy to have conversations about any incidents that people want to tell me about," he said. "But the difference at this point is that those conversations would not be formal investigations at this point because I am a staff of one."

Reach the reporter at chelsea.curtis@arizonarepublic.com or follow her on Twitter @curtis_chels.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Director Roger Smith says OAT won't start investigations until staffed