As we said just days ago, there will be significant pressure placed on the City Councilors to sign off on a consent decree without actually looking at the evidence the DOJ has collected over the last two years and as expected, articles and news are rampant about the need to sign an agreement for federal government take over of the Phoenix Police Department without actually seeing the evidence that has been collected by the DOJ.
City Councilor Ann O’Brien said it best when she said that “Nobody signs a contract without reading the contract…We need to know what your findings are. We need to make sure that they’re accurate and factual. So it doesn’t make sense to me.”
Anyone with any sense of logic understands why anyone, including the DOJ, would lack transparency…It would hurt their chances of getting what they want…a consent decree.
The idea of agreeing to anything without seeing and evaluating the reasons why is insane but insanity is exactly what is going on in Phoenix as the pressure mounts on the politicians to agree to a 30 year failed process that makes communities much more dangerous and destroys law and order.
The latest campaign involves the organization, Poder In Action. As a longtime critic of the Phoenix Police Department, their mission is “to build power to disrupt and dismantle systems of oppression and determine a liberated future as people of color in Arizona…”
Viri Hernandez, the executive director told 12 News that the “Council demanding more evidence before signing an agreement in principle is only evidence that they will continue to do whatever it takes to sweep Phoenix police misconduct under the rug and evade accountability….They are playing politics with the lives of BIPOC, disabled, and unsheltered community members, and are once again making Phoenix a national embarrassment when it comes to policing.”
As we said this week, pay attention to the rhetoric. Is this emotion or fact?
Clearly, they did not provide any evidence that the council is sweeping anything under the rug. It’s been the opposite. The Phoenix Police Department has spent over 5 million dollars in cooperating with the DOJ. They have provided over 10 years of data, video, reports, and anything else the DOJ asked for.
That is fact and certainly doesn’t sound like anyone is sweeping anything…anywhere.
Is the Phoenix Police Department “playing politic with the lives of BIPOC, disabled, and unsheltered community members?”
How does simply asking for the DOJ report “playing politics.” It’s actually the DOJ playing politics. There is nothing political about asking for actual evidence and transparency. We are pretty sure that Power In Action would agree that transparency is important.
Finally, let’s discuss the lives of BIPOC, disabled, and unsheltered community members.
Does Ms. Hernandez discuss how these lives are affected by the simple request to see the investigation before agreeing to the investigation?
She does not but that’s because she can’t.
Once again, the opposite is true. The facts are that 12 of the top 20 most dangerous cities in America are consent decree cities. Peer reviewed research indicates that murders rise dramatically in the aftermath of a consent decree and those most affected are the exact ones that Ms. Hernandez is concerned about.
Ms. Hernandez, the City Council, and every resident of Phoenix needs to understand that this decision WILL determine the future of Phoenix.
You don’t have to look very far to see the destruction that will come our way if a consent decree is implemented. You could read the actual facts on this website or you could ask the leaders and residents of Albuquerque, Oakland, Seattle, and so many others that have been begging for years to get out of their decision but they can’t and they won’t and that was because they bought into rhetoric rather than facts at this very stage that Phoenix is currently in.
We have no idea where the wind will blow in Phoenix but we know this.
WE TOLD YOU!
