Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is running for Arizona’s open Senate seat, penned a letter to the Department of Justice in which he said he was “deeply concerned” about the DOJ’s approach to any police reforms to the Phoenix Police Department.
In June, the DOJ unveiled a damning report that found the Phoenix Police Department was engaged in a “pattern or practice” that violated some people’s rights, notably the rights of homeless people and people of color. One day after receiving an endorsement from the Arizona Police Association, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which is Phoenix’s largest officers union, posted a letter that Gallego wrote to the DOJ urging it to switch its course on any repercussions from the June report.
“We’ve been working with the congressman for weeks to get his condemnation of the DOJ investigation and subsequent report. He had responded,” the Facebook post from PLEA said, which is a part of the Arizona Police Association that endorsed Gallego’s Senate run.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke indicated the DOJ’s likely path forward with the Phoenix Police Department would be a negotiated consent decree to impose wide-ranging reforms, which would then be supervised by a federal judge and a contracted independent monitor.
In his letter to Clarke, Gallego said consent decree has “a mixed record at best of improving public safety results” and is “also tremendously expensive.”
He instead urged the DOJ to enter into a technical assistance letter, which, according to ABC 15 Phoenix, generally means fewer reforms and no independent monitoring.
“DOJ is attempting to impose a consent decree on the PPD, but consent decrees have a mixed record at best of improving public safety results,” Gallego wrote.
“With an average monitoring period of ten years under a consent decree, this process is also tremendously expensive and imposes serious burdens on the PPD. The City of Phoenix expects to spend close to $50 million if a consent decree is adopted — a significant burden on local taxpayers,” he continued.
Gallego also said that a consent decree would lead to a staffing shortage at the police department.
Gallego also said he was “deeply concerned” with key components of the DOJ’s report, including the DOJ’s findings that “the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives its residents and visitors, including Black, Hispanic, and Native American people, of their rights under the Constitution and federal law.”
“It is clear a pattern or practice of civil rights violations does not exist — and it is certainly not the kind of situation Congress envisioned when it gave DOJ the authority to conduct investigations of this type,” Gallego said in his letter that counters the DOJ’s report.
The letter comes just a day after Gallego’s surprising endorsement from the Arizona Police Association. Gallego is running against Republican Kari Lake, who condemned the DOJ’s findings when they were released.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The letter also voiced support for Phoenix police officers and city officials who “already welcome reforms to advance the mission to protect Phoenix’s residents.” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is also Ruben Gallego’s ex-wife.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Gallego for comment.
