Poder in Action and Mass Liberation AZ on the Ballard Spahr Investigation
On August 12, 2021, Ballard Spahr, the law firm hired in February by the City of Phoenix to investigate the Phoenix Police Department’s actions during the 2020 protests, released two separate reports with the results of their investigation into the filing of criminal street gang charges on protesters and the creation and distribution of a neo-Nazi challenge coin.
Poder in Action and Mass Liberation AZ will be holding a virtual press conference on Monday (more details to follow) and have issued the following joint statement:
While these reports are a long overdue documentation of the patterns of abuse and misconduct of the Phoenix Police Department, they are also a reiteration of what community-led organizations and directly impacted people have been telling the City of Phoenix for years. Despite the compounded evidence contained in these reports, they only scratch the surface of the deep corruption and lies that are the foundation of this department and the city’s practices. The city can no longer ignore that the police department it insists on throwing hundreds of millions of dollars into, continues to harm the very public it claims to protect.
These reports revealed that investigators were denied access to text messages and other records, witnesses declined interviews, and the investigation was severely impeded by the lack of cooperation by the city and Police Department – the very people who ordered the investigation to begin with. These reports make clear that Chief Williams has tampered with evidence, withheld information, and lied to avoid accountability, yet the city continues to protect her. A one day suspension for Chief Jeri Williams is a slap in the face to every single person who has been brutalized, killed, and politically targeted by her department. She gets a vacation day, while the protesters arrested on her watch faced decades in prison.
Viri Hernandez from Poder in Action stated:
“These reports make it more clear than ever that it is time for city leadership to defund this police department and invest in strategies for public safety that are centered on the health and wellbeing of our communities. We cannot wait for another expensive report, impeded investigation, or ineffective task force for Council to take action. Every day and every dollar they waste is putting Black, Brown, and working class people at risk of getting killed, falsely incarcerated, and racially or politically targeted.”
Bruce Franks Jr. from Mass Liberation AZ stated:
“The Phoenix Police Department is committed to anti-Blackness and violence. Period. The neo-Nazi challenge coin only scratches the surface of the deep culture of white supremacy within the department. False charges, widespread distribution of the challenge coin, targeting, surveilling, and brutalizing protesters…it’s just more evidence proving the pattern AND practice of racism within the Phoenix PD. And our elected city officials keep ignoring and belittling the Black, directly impacted people who already told them everything that is in these reports. No more talk, we demand accountability.”
We are in solidarity with directly impacted people and the families of those killed by Phoenix PD when we DEMAND Ed Zuercher be terminated as City Manager immediately. He has created the conditions for this entire situation in his 8 years managing a city that now faces a DOJ investigation for being home to the deadliest police force in the nation. While City Manager Zuercher has created the conditions, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association has fostered a culture where lies, secrets, impeding investigations, and white supremacy have become the norm. PLEA must be disbanded. Every city and department employee that has been named by the public, the media, and this report should be fired immediately. This includes Chief Williams. See a full list of our demands here.
We believe these demands are a first step in holding the city and Phoenix PD accountable for the harm they’ve caused our communities. The next step is for the city to commit to a police violence compensation fund and include reparations for protesters who were targeted by PPD. We don’t need empty rhetoric about restoring public trust or more futile investigations that confirm what we already know. The only way towards true accountability and justice is defunding this police department and building a Phoenix that prioritizes people, not policing, prisons, and punishment.