NewsVine_Mariyam
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If not every day, then at least every time I log into this website, I will inevitably come across someone erroneously claiming that racism against Black people ended in the United States at some unknown date in the past, presumably after the date on which the Civil Rights Act of 1964 effectively made racial discrimination & segregation unlawful. And even though we, the Black members of this message board cite nearly everything we post, many here apparently reside in an alternate dimension where not only racism doesn't exist, but neither does any of the concrete evidence demonstrating its continuation, such as the news article below chronicles:
A Justice Department official said it was the first time the agency had found violations of the civil and constitutional rights of homeless people.
June 13, 2024, 10:57 AM PDT
By Janelle Griffith and Michael Kosnar
The Phoenix Police Department uses excessive force, violates constitutional rights, particularly those of homeless people, and discriminates against Black, Hispanic and Native American people, according to the results of an investigation by the Justice Department released Thursday.
The Justice Department found a “pattern or practice” of violations, saying Phoenix police frequently stop, detain and arrest homeless people without reasonable suspicion that they’ve committed any crime. The city and its police department also seize and destroy the property of homeless people without providing adequate notice or fair opportunity to collect their belongings, the Justice Department said.
The findings were announced by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who oversees the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“This finding is historic,” Clarke said. “This marks the first time that the Justice Department has found violations of the civil and constitutional rights of people who are homeless.”
The findings are detailed in a 126-page report issued Thursday.
The police department referred requests for comment about the findings to the city.
Mayor Kate Gallego said the city had received the report at the same time as the public.
“The City Council will meet this month — in Executive Session on June 25 — to receive legal advice, better understand the report, and discuss next steps,” Gallego said in a statement. “I will carefully and thoroughly review the findings before making further comment.”
Clarke acknowledged that homelessness is a challenge in Phoenix, as it is in many cities across the country, saying the city’s homeless population had nearly tripled in the last decade.
“Overpolicing of the homeless has become a central pillar of the police department’s enforcement strategy,” she said. “In fact, 37% of all of the department’s misdemeanor arrests and citations were of homeless people.”
She added: “This behavior is not only unlawful, but it conveys a lack of respect for the humanity and dignity of some of the most vulnerable members of our society.”
Clarke said that the police department also discriminates against Black, Hispanic and Native American people when enforcing the law, and that officers are disproportionately targeting communities of color. As evidence, she said, Black drivers in Phoenix are 144 times more likely than white drivers to be arrested or cited for low-level moving violations, while Hispanic drivers are 40% more likely to be arrested or cited for the same thing.
“Phoenix police also enforce drug and alcohol offenses more severely against Black, Hispanic and Native American people than against white people,” she said.
Data shows that Phoenix cites and arrests Black people for marijuana possession at nearly seven times the rate of white people and Hispanic people more than three times the rate. And Black, Hispanic and Native American people are disproportionately charged with pedestrian traffic violations and loitering, the Justice Department found.
Clarke said the police department makes no concession for the particular vulnerabilities of children, and treats them just the same as adults.
“Not only does such conduct harm children but it can contribute to fear and distrust of law enforcement by the next generation of Phoenix residents,” she said.
Police are also accused of violating the rights of people engaged in protected speech, including through retaliatory policing. After a protest at which officers unloaded canisters of tear gas at peaceful protesters, Clarke said, Phoenix police officers circulated a challenge coin normally used to commemorate moments of valor and pride during service. The coin was reported about by KNXV-TV of Pheonix.
“This challenge coin instead depicted a protester whom an officer shot in the groin with a 40 millimeter impact round,” Clarke said.
The coin, which was shown during her news conference held over Zoom, had a star over the image of the man’s groin with the words: “Good night, left nut.”
“When police officers abused their power to silence people asserting their constitutional right to free speech and assembly, it erodes the community’s trust in law enforcement,” Clarke said.
The city and the police department also discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities when they dispatch calls for assistance and respond to people in crisis, the Justice Department said. Clarke cited the city’s own experts, who she said estimated that each month, 10% of dispatch calls for service relate to behavioral health. The Justice Department found through its analysis that officers spend “significant patrol time” responding to such calls, “even though resources are available for an alternative response,” and that, in some instances, police escalate encounters by using force or making arrests when they were on the scene specifically to take people to behavioral health treatment.
“The police department claims it was unaware of these significant racial disparities but long standing and frequently voiced community concerns about discriminatory policing, as well as overt displays of bias within the police force should have spurred the department to analyze its own data,” Clarke said. “Instead, the police department turned a blind eye to the data, ignored these unmistakable warnings and failed to uncover your own discriminatory policing.”
During the course of the Justice Department’s investigation, Clarke said, the city and its police department took steps to institute reform. For example, Michael Sullivan, the interim police chief, revised the department’s use of force policy and introduced new training on de-escalation tactics and an officer’s duty to intervene. And the city has invested in additional shelters and resources for it homeless population, she said. The city also recently issued a reform report that lays out what it has done and plans to do to achieve constitutional policing, Clarke said.
“However, today, many reforms have not yet been implemented,” she said, while others “exist on paper but not in practice.”
“In total, these efforts are simply not enough to address the full scope of our findings today,” Clarke aid.
Clarke said career attorneys in the Civil Rights Division conducted hours of interviews, participated in police ride-alongs, reviewed thousands of documents and watched hundreds of hours of body-worn camera video.
“The findings that we have issued are severe,” Clarke said, adding, “This is one instance where we can’t count on the police to police themselves.”
The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into the Phoenix Police Department in 2021, after officers were involved in a series of shootings and were the subject of complaints of abuse. Unlike in other cities, the investigation was not prompted by a single incident.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the time that such investigations are aimed at increasing public trust and public safety by identifying systemic issues.
Clarke said the Justice Department will work with the city to find solutions. She stopped short of saying the department would be put under a consent decree, which typically is used to create and enforce changes within a local or state governmental agency when evidence of misconduct is found.
Phoenix officials have openly opposed to the prospect. Clarke pointed to cities with consent decrees, including Baltimore, Seattle and Albuquerque, New Mexico, as places “where reform and progress is underway.”
