Phoenix Police Department
The nation's fifth-largest city police department: the U.S. Department of Justice pattern-or-practice investigation and its findings, a record of police shootings that led the nation, use of force, the 2020 protest gang-charge scandal, and the city's Office of Accountability and Transparency.
History & Context
Key events, each tied to a published source. Entries we could not verify are marked. Spot an error? Tell us.
- 2018Shootings
Phoenix leads the nation in fatal police shootings
Phoenix officers were involved in 44 shootings in 2018, 23 of them fatal. That was the most fatal officer-involved shootings of any U.S. municipal agency that year, compared with an average of about 23 shootings a year from 2009 to 2017.
Sources: National Policing Institute report · AP News
- June 20, 2019Shootings
Republic investigation: Phoenix outpaces peer cities in shootings
An Arizona Republic analysis found Phoenix police shootings had surpassed those in comparable cities for years. Houston, a larger city, had 18 shootings in 2018 to Phoenix's 44.
Sources: The Arizona Republic
- February 25, 2020Oversight
Council votes 5-4 for civilian oversight (OAT)
Phoenix City Council approved the Office of Accountability and Transparency and a community review board, after a five-hour meeting.
- October 17, 2020Protest charges
Protesters charged as a 'criminal street gang'
Phoenix police arrested 18 protesters, including three minors, and county prosecutors charged them with assisting a criminal street gang. ABC15's 'Politically Charged' investigation exposed the grand jury testimony behind the charges.
Sources: ABC15 – Politically Charged
- February 12, 2021Protest charges
Prosecutors drop the protest gang case
Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel moved to dismiss case CR 2020-139581, about a week after ABC15 published the grand jury transcript.
Sources: ABC15 · The Arizona Republic
- May 19, 2021Oversight
OAT ordinance adopted
The City Council adopted Ordinance G-6851, creating Chapter 20 of the city code and giving OAT its powers. A November 2020 version had failed 5-4.
Sources: Ordinance G-6851 · ABC15 – Nov. 2020 vote
- June 3, 2021Protest charges
Judge finds police and prosecutors 'colluded' before the grand jury
Judge Jennifer Ryan-Touhill dismissed the gang charges with prejudice, finding that Sgt. Doug McBride and prosecutor April Sponsel 'colluded in their efforts to present the grand jury with false information regarding a non-existent gang.'
Sources: ABC15
- August 5, 2021DOJ
DOJ opens a pattern-or-practice investigation
The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into the City of Phoenix and the Phoenix Police Department.
Sources: U.S. DOJ – Phoenix case page
- June 13, 2024DOJ
DOJ findings: excessive force and discrimination
DOJ found reasonable cause to believe Phoenix police use excessive force, including unjustified deadly force; unlawfully detain and arrest people experiencing homelessness; discriminate against Black, Hispanic and Native American people; violate protest rights; and discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities.
Sources: U.S. DOJ – Phoenix case page
- May 21, 2025DOJ
DOJ closes the investigation and retracts its findings
Under the Trump administration, the Civil Rights Division closed the Phoenix investigation and retracted the 2024 findings, without a consent decree. City leaders said reforms would continue anyway.
Sources: U.S. DOJ press release · Axios Phoenix