For many supporters, there has been a sense that the police department has not fairly kept their oath to both protect and serve the community, but rather create violence and oppression towards communities like that of the Hispanic and Black communities in America. Though the in the last few weeks $3 million was granted to civilian oversight board so there would be more to be done to stop the systematic racism seen in our police force in Arizona. Though there is a long list what needs to be done there is all different opinions on which best to create a fair department. Some supporters would desire to completely eliminate the system of having no police force while others believe to defund it is change the system entire and allocating necessary funds equally to other areas like that of community development and infrastructure. CIMA Law has looked at different solutions that could be more impactful reform that can create a more trustworthy system without eliminating the department completely.
Creating a more diversified police department especially in high power positions in the department will go along way to create a sense of connectiveness with the community and the police department. Matt Giordano, executive director of Arizona POST believes there is no denying it in our states main department board is made up of all white men. The 13 members include The Arizona attorney general, the Department of Public Safety director; the Arizona Department of Corrections director; an administrator of a county or municipal correctional facility; two sheriffs, one from a county with less than 200,000 people; two police chiefs; a patrol officer or sergeant, one from a city police department and the other from a sheriff’s office; a college faculty member; and two public members. As well the selection process is based on State law mandates in which some positions are awarded by title and others the governor appoints the others. That’s where it can be a little difficult for diversity to be created within this board. The leadership board could do better to have more representation from diverse groups within Arizona and to be pro motive of diverse leadership that would represent most of Arizona.
As we know it is difficult to be a police officer in today world that deals with many issues that the police really don’t need to be much part of especially dealing with mental health situations and homelessness. In light of the tragedies these last months many believe to have social worker professionals be part of the co response team with police officers could positively impact situations that can be diffused easily without the Brut force of a police officer. One example the AZ police departments could copy is the CAHOOTS response team in Eugene Oregon. This crisis intervention teams typically do not include an armed, uniformed officer but do feature counselors, social workers, and paramedics. Even if the cops are at the scene usually with mental health or homelessness situations the police back off let them do their work to diffuse the situation. To allocate money towards successful programs like this would probably one of the biggest game-changers in which decrease tensions for the both the police and the communities. As well we need to work on creating solutions that don’t involve locking up people especially if its small offenses like misdemeanor or drug offenses. For example, for many years people years in prison just for having drug possession or using it without necessary help or given the change behaviors. For drug addicts, they should be sent to programs to help themselves get better while other offenses could be done with community service or probation.
Lastly, the departments across America including that of the Arizona departments need to reform disciplining and firing of “bad apples”. However unions arbitration and bargaining has made it very difficult for supervisors to hold officers accountable for their actions and difficult to for screening of habitual misconduct when many cities departments erase misconduct actions after a certain time. In Phoenix many news articles in 2019 came out that the department purged the records of misconduct officers so they wouldn’t be more disciplined as they should. The practice, which the Department refers to as “purging,” has been standard for more than two decades under the police union’s contract in which states the contract prohibits misconduct details to be in the purged records from being considered in future disciplinary investigations or performance evaluations. It has lead some advocates and experts believe in a cascade effect in which police oversight, shielding misbehaving officers from public scrutiny and depriving supervisors of information about officers’ conduct. It also would allow misbehavior to go undetected, and officers to remain employed. The Arizona Republic did a month long investigation and concluded almost 600 cases were purged from records in the last 5 years. Of the Phoenix Police Department’s 3,000 sworn employees, there was around 525 have purged disciplinary records, which range from small minor accidents to excessive use of force. The number includes sergeants and lieutenants who supervise other officers and investigate allegations of misconduct lodged against them. This system needs to changed how we have officers be more accountable for their actions and there should be more freedom for supervisors to discipline their officers correctly based on their actions and to have records not purged so that to make sure an officer does not get promoted or re hired for repeated misconduct. As well if harm has been done it is important there is a legal compensation for the victims. There should be a sense no one is above the law even for those who enforce it.
Hopefully in the near future, Arizona will be seeing changes like these if they truly want to change the systematic racism that has cost the lives of thousands. If we want to see a better service done by the police department we need to give equal voices to all members of Arizona’s society and create accountability so we can rebuild trust.
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