AZ Congressional delegation remains mostly silent on Phoenix police report

Arizona’s congressional delegation offered little immediate public reaction to the federal investigation that exposed years of systemic civil rights violations by the Phoenix Police Department.

None of the state’s U.S. senators and just two of its nine U.S. representatives have issued official statements or posted on their regular social media channels about the findings.

The U.S. Department of Justice cited city police for illegal practices of force and disproportionate targeting of people of color. Police were unnecessarily harsh on homeless people, the inquest found.

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., who served as Phoenix mayor from 2012 to 2018, said he expected the city to take the report seriously.

“I am still reviewing the report, but I support the women and men of law enforcement who risk their lives to serve and protect our community every day,” he said in a written statement at The Arizona Republic. “The vast majority of officers in the Phoenix Police Department perform their demanding jobs with honor and integrity.

“However, public safety depends on public trust. It is clear that there is work to be done to strengthen relationships between officers and the community. I expect the department to take this report seriously and I have confidence in Chief (Michael) Sullivan, Mayor (Kate) Gallego and the council to continue to implement necessary reforms.

So far, the police union has called Justice Department investigators “frauds” and city officials have vigorously opposed the prospect of a consent decree for federal oversight for months, while expressing their frustration with the investigation.

In a written statement, Gallego said Thursday that the city received the report at the same time as the public.

Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who is the mayor’s ex-husband, expressed a similar sentiment to Stanton.

“Arizonians all want the same thing: to feel safe in our communities,” he said in a statement. “Our police are essential to this. I support the Mayor, our City Council, and the men and women of our police force as they continue to implement reforms to keep our communities safe.

Senate candidate Ruben Gallego has complained about police excesses in the past and praised the federal investigation when it began three years ago.

Four days after the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, he called for federal oversight of police-involved shootings, saying “there is a warm relationship between police officers, the police union and the prosecutor.”

Two days later, he attended a protest that started outside Phoenix police headquarters.

U.S. Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., whose district spans northeastern Arizona, posted a message on social media that was about law enforcement, but not Phoenix police. Instead, it was a single missing person in Tuba City.

President Joe Biden was in Europe for the annual meeting of the world’s seven largest industrialized economies. The White House issued statements Thursday on several topics, such as the death of journalist Howard Fineman and the Supreme Court’s decision upholding access to abortion pills, but made no statement on the police investigation. Phoenix that had been going on for years.

For Biden, the report puts the Justice Department on his watch, at least for now, on an adversarial footing with the police department in the largest city in a swing state where Biden consistently lags behind in polls.

One of the few political figures to respond was Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, who urged the city to fight the federal government in court. She said in a social media post that the investigation was “predetermined.”

“Their assertion that Phoenix police engaged in discrimination is a political conclusion and does not reflect the reality of the fantastic work our officers do every day on the streets to protect the citizens of Phoenix,” he said. she writes.