{"id":2332490,"date":"2024-08-28T11:47:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T15:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ruben-gallego-urges-doj-to-loosen-oversight-of-phoenix-police-department-after-state-police-association-endorsement-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-08-28T11:55:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T15:55:16","slug":"ruben-gallego-urges-doj-to-loosen-oversight-of-phoenix-police-department-after-state-police-association-endorsement-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ruben-gallego-urges-doj-to-loosen-oversight-of-phoenix-police-department-after-state-police-association-endorsement-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruben Gallego urges DOJ to loosen oversight of Phoenix Police Department after state police association endorsement &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fruben-gallego-urges-doj-to-loosen-oversight-of-phoenix-police-department-after-state-police-association-endorsement-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2332490&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is campaigning for Arizona&#8217;s open Senate seat, expressed concerns regarding the Department of Justice&#8217;s (DOJ)\u2064 oversight of \u2063the Phoenix Police Department in a recent\u2063 letter. This follows a June report by the DOJ that highlighted a &#8220;pattern or practice&#8221; of rights violations within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nashville-pd-releases-photo-of-rv-that-exploded-christmas-morning-asks-the-public-for-help\/\" title=\"Nashville PD Releases Photo of RV That Exploded Christmas Morning, Asks the Public For Help\">police department<\/a>, particularly affecting homeless \u200bindividuals and people\u2062 of color.\u200d <\/p>\n<p>Gallego wrote to the DOJ advocating for a technical assistance letter rather than a consent decree to \u200bfacilitate police reform, asserting that consent decrees have \u2064a \u200cmixed\u2063 track record in\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/san-clemente-councilor-sues-city-to-get-public-records\/\" title=\"San Clemente Councilor Sues City to Get Public Records\">enhancing public safety<\/a> and can be financially burdensome \u2062for local taxpayers, potentially costing the City of Phoenix around $50 million. He cited concerns that the consent decree process\u2063 could lead to staffing shortages in the police \u2062department.<\/p>\n<p>The letter originated one day after\u2063 the Phoenix Law\u2064 Enforcement Association endorsed Gallego&#8217;s Senate candidacy and publicly shared his request to the DOJ to reconsider its \u2062approach following \u200dtheir \u200cdamaging report. Gallego \u2063contested the \u2064DOJ&#8217;s findings, arguing against the existence of systemic civil \u200crights violations within\u200b the police department. His appeal underscores\u200b ongoing tensions \u2063between local law enforcement practices and federal oversight efforts in addressing police misconduct.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Ruben Gallego urges DOJ to loosen oversight of Phoenix Police Department after state police association endorsement<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1723888\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ruben-gallego\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Ruben Gallego<\/a> (D-AZ), who is running for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/arizona\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Arizona<\/a>&rsquo;s open Senate seat, penned a letter to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-justice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Department of Justice <\/a>in which he said he was &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wife-of-american-wrongfully-detained-by-taliban-airs-frustration-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Wife of American wrongfully detained by Taliban airs frustration - Washington Examiner\">deeply concerned&#038;rdquo<\/a>; about the DOJ&rsquo;s approach to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/illinois-criminal-justice-system-reform-law-criticized-by-police\/\" title=\"Illinois Criminal Justice System Reform Law Criticized By Police\">police reforms<\/a> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/phoenix\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Phoenix<\/a> Police Department.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>In June, the DOJ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3045087\/doj-phoenix-police-first-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>unveiled a damning report<\/a> that found the Phoenix Police Department was engaged in a &ldquo;pattern or practice&rdquo; that violated some people&rsquo;s rights, notably the rights of homeless people and people of color. One day after receiving an endorsement from the Arizona Police Association, the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/p\/RJFp72uv4i9UTom3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title> Phoenix Law Enforcement Association,<\/a> which is Phoenix&rsquo;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.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been working with the congressman for weeks to get his condemnation of the DOJ investigation and subsequent report. He had responded,&rdquo; the Facebook post from PLEA said, which is a part of the Arizona Police Association that endorsed Gallego&rsquo;s Senate run.<\/p>\n<p>Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke indicated the DOJ&rsquo;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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In his letter to Clarke, Gallego said consent decree has &ldquo;a mixed record at best of improving public safety results&rdquo; and is &ldquo;also tremendously expensive.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>He instead urged the DOJ to enter into a technical assistance letter, which, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc15.com\/news\/local-news\/investigations\/arizona-congressman-ruben-gallego-condemns-phoenix-doj-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>ABC 15 Phoenix<\/a>, generally means fewer reforms and no independent monitoring.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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,&rdquo; Gallego wrote.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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 &mdash; a significant burden on local taxpayers,&rdquo; he continued. <\/p>\n<p>Gallego also said that a consent decree would lead to a staffing shortage at the police department.<\/p>\n<p>Gallego also said he was &ldquo;deeply concerned&rdquo; with key components of the DOJ&rsquo;s report, including the DOJ&rsquo;s findings that &ldquo;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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/waffle-arizona-house-speaker-claims-they-cant-enforce-constitution-wont-commit-to-calling-legislative-hearing\/\" title=\"WAFFLE: Arizona House Speaker Claims They Can\u2019t Enforce Constitution, Won\u2019t Commit To Calling Legislative Hearing\">federal law<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is clear a pattern or practice of civil rights violations does not exist &mdash; and it is certainly not the kind of situation Congress envisioned when it gave DOJ the authority to conduct investigations of this type,&rdquo; Gallego said in his letter that counters the DOJ&rsquo;s report.<\/p>\n<p>The letter comes just a day after Gallego&rsquo;s surprising <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/3134710\/arizona-police-association-endorses-gallego\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>endorsement<\/a> from the Arizona Police Association. Gallego is running against Republican <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kari-lake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Kari Lake<\/a>, who <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KariLake\/status\/1801321694709354564?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1801321694709354564%7Ctwgr%5Efc5ad2874b48cf24504a3ab0059b38b7027a614b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc15.com%2Fnews%2Flocal-news%2Finvestigations%2Farizona-congressman-ruben-gallego-condemns-phoenix-doj-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>condemned<\/a> the DOJ&rsquo;s findings when they were released.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The letter also voiced support for Phoenix police officers and city officials who &ldquo;already welcome reforms to advance the mission to protect Phoenix&rsquo;s residents.&rdquo; Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is also Ruben Gallego&rsquo;s ex-wife.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> reached out to Gallego for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1723888\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1723888\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ruben Gallego, a Democratic representative from Arizona and candidate for the state&#8217;s open Senate seat, expressed his &#8220;deep concern&#8221; in a letter to the Department of Justice regarding its handling of police reforms for the Phoenix Police Department. This follows a June report from the DOJ that criticized the department for engaging in practices that violated individuals&#8217; rights, particularly affecting homeless people and people of color. After receiving an endorsement from the Arizona Police Association, Gallego&#8217;s letter was shared by the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which is the largest union representing officers in Phoenix. The association stated they had been collaborating with Gallego to voice opposition to the DOJ&#8217;s investigation and findings.<\/p>\n<p>Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke suggested that moving forward with reforms would likely involve a negotiated consent decree overseen by a federal judge and an independent monitor. However, Gallego argued against this approach in his letter to Clarke, stating that consent decrees have had mixed success in enhancing public safety and are costly\u2014potentially costing Phoenix nearly $50 million if implemented. He proposed instead that the DOJ consider entering into a technical assistance agreement which typically involves fewer reforms without independent oversight.<\/p>\n<p>Gallego also raised concerns about potential staffing shortages at the police department due to these measures and disputed key findings from the DOJ\u2019s report regarding civil rights violations within Phoenix law enforcement. He emphasized support for local officers who are open to reforming practices aimed at better serving residents while noting his connection as an ex-husband of current Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. The Washington Examiner has sought comments from him on this matter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2910,"featured_media":2332491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ruben-Gallego-July-2024-scaled-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[39525,39526,34667,39527,32076],"class_list":["post-2332490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-doj-oversight","tag-phoenix-police-department","tag-ruben-gallego","tag-state-police-association","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Ruben-Gallego-July-2024-scaled-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2910"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2332490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2332491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2332490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2332490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2332490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}