On February 10, community members will demand that the Phoenix City Council’s Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee immediately take action to oversee the investigation of members of the Phoenix Police Department’s use of a challenge coin bearing white nationalist iconography. Court records show the coin was sold and shared among members of the Phoenix Police Department’s Tactical Response Unit. 

WHAT:       Community members demand police accountability

WHEN:       Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 9:00 a.m.

WHERE:     Online meeting

Wednesday’s action follows media reports that Chief Jeri Williams will place officers under investigation. The Phoenix Tactical Response Unit and its sergeant, Doug McBride, have been directly involved in numerous arrests of protesters exercising their First Amendment rights in calling for the defunding of police. Sgt. Doug McBride heads that team and was also the so-called “gang expert” used by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to legitimize criminal street gang charges against Black Lives Matter protesters. 

Mass Liberation Arizona petitioned the subcommittee to demand the issue be added to tomorrow’s meeting agenda but the request was denied. Community members will attend the meeting and plan to hold their elected officials accountable to dealing with this issue immediately.