New Committee Shares Reform Recommendations For Phoenix PD

PHOENIX — Talks of policing reform have sprouted up across the country in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis, and Phoenix is no exception. A new committee has since laid out recommendations for how to reform the Phoenix Police Department.

The "Review and Implementation Ad Hoc Committee" was formed by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego in July 2019 to review reports and studies of the Phoenix Police Department, and provide recommendations for how to move forward. The group, comprised of two city council members and 17 community members, shared the recommendations Thursday.

The recommendations fell into six categories: community engagement, policy and oversight, reporting, training, staffing and citywide.

In the community engagement category, the committee recommended "multi-million dollar investments" to better respond to those with mental health issues. They also suggested 'participatory budgeting,' which would allow the community to decide how to spend portions of the department's budget. The policy and oversight category included altering the department's Use of Force Operations Order to include more options for deescalation, as well as updating the "Sanctity of Life" clause to commit to using less-than-lethal force in interactions.

“The primary duty of all police officers is to preserve human life," the recommendations read. "Only the minimal amount of force necessary to protect the life or to effect an arrest should be used by an officer. "

The reporting category called for an overhaul, particularly calling for reporting the outcome of every traffic stop and including information like race, age and gender in those reports. The recommendations also called for increased training in several areas, including implicit bias, crisis intervention, conflict resolution and more.

The committee also said they would like to see more non-police interventions and community action officers. In citywide initiatives, the group said the police department should "prioritize least harm options of enforcement in all situations" and focus on citing and releasing individuals instead of sending them directly to jail.

Hours of community comments followed the release of the suggestions and not everyone was on board.

A leader with the Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association said, "Many of these seem to be in line with defunding and dismantling the police, which we have in effect [done] by not keeping up with population."

Poder In Action, one of the groups on the committee, has pushed for defunding the police. The group signaled that they weren't in favor of all of the recommendations the committee presented, asking its Twitter followers to "[support] the recommendations that are necessary" and "[push back on ones that harm us."

Calls for police reform have been growing in recent years. The Phoenix Police Department has come under fire for high-profile incidents, including one last summer in which a Black family was held up at gunpoint by Phoenix police officers. There have also been calls for review of the department's procedures following this summer's protests, following the use of rubber bullets and many arrests.

Similar recommendations have been unveiled before. The committee will meet again later in August to finalize these recommendations. It hopes to send them to the Phoenix City Council before the end of the year.