U.S. probes Phoenix police use of force, treatment of protesters

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Aug 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation to investigate whether police in Phoenix used unlawful lethal force, retaliated against peaceful protesters and violated the rights of the homeless in their recent investigation into a major American city .

Since President Joe Biden took office in January, the department has also launched civil rights investigations into police behavior in Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky. These were among the U.S. cities where major protests were held in 2020 following high-profile killings of blacks by police officers.

The investigations mark a shift in the department’s focus under Democrat Biden, who made racial justice a priority unlike the administration of his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.

With a population of around 1.7 million, Phoenix is ​​Arizona’s capital and largest city – and the fifth largest city in the United States.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Kristen Clarke, director of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, announced the investigation at a press conference. Garland said such investigations are “aimed at promoting transparency and accountability”.

Racial justice activists have charged the Phoenix Police with unlawful surveillance, arrest and malicious prosecution of protesters. Last month, in response to a mental health call, Phoenix police shot dead a man who aimed at them what turned out to be a water pistol, authorities said.

Clarke said the Phoenix investigation had the full support of the city’s mayor and police chief.

Police block protesters during a visit by US President Donald Trump to Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, the United States, June 23, 2020. REUTERS / Ash Ponders.

“We look forward to working with the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department to achieve the shared goals of ensuring constitutional policing and promoting greater collaboration between law enforcement officers and the community they serve,” said Clarke.

Justice Department attorneys have met with nearly 1,000 community members in Minneapolis and Louisville and received written messages from hundreds more, Clarke said. Justice Department attorneys have also met with police command staff in Louisville and Minneapolis, Clarke added.

“We’ll be taking the same approach in Phoenix,” said Clarke.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego issued a statement welcoming the Justice Department’s review, adding, “Comprehensive policing reform in Phoenix City has been a top priority since I first took office.”

The use of force by US police has been in the spotlight in recent years after a series of fatal incidents in various cities, with protests across the country following the death of a black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis in June 2020 – a crime involving a police officer convicted of murder. Louisville officials fatally shot and killed Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman, in a botched raid last year.

Clarke said police officers must use their authority in ways that do not violate people’s constitutional rights, comply with federal civil rights laws, and “respect human dignity.”

(This story adds the word “not” in the last paragraph)

Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Additional coverage from David Schwartz in Phoenix; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone, and Richard Chang