It’s been more than two years now that the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating Phoenix’s law enforcement practices for alleged violations of federal law
Rachel Mitchell and Victor Riches
Arizona Capitol Times
Phoenix leaders just informed the Justice Department that the city can operate its own law enforcement activities without federal oversight. The leaders understand that spending untold millions of taxpayer dollars for the overreaching federal oversight of local law enforcement is ineffective at bringing change and often makes residents of the city less safe.
It’s been more than two years now that the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating Phoenix’s law enforcement practices for alleged violations of federal law.
By all accounts, the city has cooperated with federal investigators — at a cost to taxpayers of over $5 million and counting. But that’s not enough for Washington bureaucrats, who now want to essentially commandeer the entire Phoenix Police Department.
Late last year, Justice Department officials asked the city’s leaders to sign an “agreement in principle,” which is often a precursor to a “consent decree” that would grant federal regulators extraordinary oversight and control over local police activities. Consent decrees often include extraordinarily detailed provisions that govern all minutiae of law enforcement actions.
The feds made this demand despite having presented no findings of wrongdoing. Instead, officials told the city they would reveal their findings only after the city enters into an “agreement in principle” for federal oversight.
Setting aside this bizarre notion of requiring an admission of fault before a party can see the allegations, the government’s demand for a federal monitor is bad for Phoenix and its taxpayers.
