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‘This finding is historic:’ How the DOJ says Phoenix PD violated the rights of homeless people [1]
['Mitchell Koch', 'Gina Maravilla', 'The Associated Press', 'David Baker', 'Amy Cutler', 'Dennis Welch', 'Cody Lillich', 'Ben Bradley']
Date: 2024-06-13
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The U.S. Department of Justice’s anticipated results of its three-year investigation found the Phoenix Police Department routinely engaged in patterns of excessive force and discrimination against homeless people.
“We found that unhoused people in Phoenix have suffered a pattern of unconstitutional conduct,” said Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General.
The Justice Department released its 126-page report Thursday morning, which outlines the department’s discrimination against certain races, as well as people experiencing homelessness.
The DOJ’s report said Phoenix police stopped, detained and arrested unsheltered people without reasonable suspicion that they committed a crime and unlawfully disposed of their belongings.
The ACLU had previously made similar claims against the Department to the city during the cleanup of the homeless encampment known as “The Zone,” alleging the city was violating the constitutional rights of unhoused people during cleanup “sweeps.”
The ACLU claimed Phoenix seized and destroyed people’s property and threatened to cite or arrest people.
The DOJ made similar claims. “Additionally, the city and the police department seize and destroy the property of homeless people without providing adequate notice or fair opportunity to collect their belongings,” said Clarke. “This behavior is not only unlawful bit conveys a lack of humanity and dignity of some of the most vulnerable members of our society.”
The report states that 37% of all of the department’s misdemeanor arrests and citations were of homeless people.
“The findings we have issued are severe and I will note our finding with respect of the treatment of homeless people is historic,” Clarke said. “This is the first time that the Justice Department has issued a finding of this kind in pattern and practice investigation.”
Jared Keenan, an ACLU Legal Director, says the ACLU will use the DOJ’s findings to bolster its ongoing litigation against the City of Phoenix and the police department. Keenan also reacted to the findings, saying he wasn’t surprised to hear the kind of conduct the DOJ described.
“They described just awful scenes of police not just harming folks, but degrading them and relishing in the violence they perpetrate. This is not the type of policing we need, certainly not what we deserve and I hope the city finally gets the message with this report,” Keenan said.
Phillip Scharf, CEO of CASS, Arizona’s biggest Homeless Service Program, said Thursday that the report and the DOJ’s findings are disheartening but believes it can also be an opportunity for change and action.
“People experiencing homelessness more times than not are existing in spaces because they have to and by no means of their own are ending up on the wrong side of the legal system,” Scharf said. “Incarceration, putting them through the legal system is time and money that’s not helping anyone get housed or in treatment centers, etc.”
Scharf said he wants CASS to be a community partner and hopes to be part of the solution by working with the Phoenix Police Department to change the way officers approach these community members.
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[1] Url:
https://www.azfamily.com/2024/06/13/this-finding-is-historic-how-doj-says-phoenix-pd-violated-rights-homeless-people/
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