PHX Reporter

T he Phoenix Police Department is wrapping up another incredible year, one that had the eyes of the world on us for all the right reasons. That attention brought unique challenges and allowed for many ways to show off the professionalism and effectiveness of those who make up this agency.   As we roll into another year, the Phoenix Police Department will strive every day to keep our commitment to our community to be a self-assessing and self-correcting agency while looking for additional ways to increase accountability and transparency. The Department will continue to take a victim centric approach to crime and expand on the guidelines in our Crime Reduction Plan released in the summer of 2023. These pillars will ensure that we are ready to navigate whatever comes our way to best serve the community.

CRIME TRENDS

The City of Phoenix saw a reduction in crime in many categories statistically gathered as part of the Uniform Crime Reporting classifications. One of the most important elements of fighting crime is community involvement. This year the Phoenix Police Department made a concerted effort to focus on community engagement and increasing the public's trust. We believe our efforts have proven successful in reducing, preventing and solving crime. The sworn and professional staff of the Department worked tirelessly to plan and execute the Crime Reduction Plan unveiled in the summer of 2023. Comparing the months January to November 2022 to January to November 2023, homicides have dropped 14%, robberies are down roughly 15% and overall violent crime is down almost 5%.

In March, the department officially launched the Non-Fatal Shoot Team within the Violent Crimes Bureau. This new detective detail specifically investigates those incidents where a victim suffers a gunshot wound and survives. The crime scene is processed, and the investigation is conducted similar to that of a homicide investigation. The success of this newly formed unit has had a direct impact on future crime and the numbers detailed above.

Property Crime had a similar trend with a total decrease of over 13%, all while motor vehicle thefts were up 46%. This increase has been attributed to a nationwide stolen vehicle epidemic targeting Kia and Hyundai brand vehicles. Our mid-year crime stats article cites this trend and its effects on the auto theft numbers as a whole.

The efforts of the Property Crimes Unit in targeting repeat offenders had a significant impact on the drop in property crimes numbers. This Unit focused on identifying and clearing cases involving organized retail crime thefts. Those repeat offenders are subject to increased penalties. These efforts have prompted the Maricopa County Attorney's Office to identify this type of crime as a priority which has impacted the sentences handed out to these repeat offenders and has limited the arrested person's ability to get out of jail prior to a trial date. Keeping these individuals in custody and our partnership with MCAO has shown positive results.

This work by the Property Crimes Unit was never more prevalent during a weeklong, multi-agency operation targeting retail theft. In September of 2023, this operation took place and resulted in clearing almost 250 outstanding arrest warrants by conducting 64 arrests and multiple gun seizures. This operation took weeks of research, planning and preparation which proved successful. The future impact of this operation continues to be felt as property crimes continue to fall.

This above operation followed one of the most successful multi-agency operations to have ever been executed by the department, which was dubbed “Operation Summer Shield 2023." This was an operation that immediately followed the release of Interim Chief Sullivan's Crime Reduction Plan. The results directly correlated with this crime plan. You can find out more about Operation Summer Shield in this article.

CRIME PLAN

In June 2023, the Department launched a Crime Reduction Plan which provides guidance to those at every level of the Department on how to achieve our mission to prevent and reduce crime. It lays the foundation and acts as a guideline for precinct and bureau leaders to follow to keep our community safe. This plan is a victim centric plan and leans on four pillars of crime fighting. These pillars include focusing on the most violent people, the most active areas, prohibited possessors, and those violent offenders with outstanding arrest warrants. The safety of those we serve continues to be the highest priority and partnering with our community to help fight crime around them is essential to this plan. The specific goals of this plan are to reduce violent crime by 8% and property crime by 5% as we move forward.

RECRUITING

Most police agencies across the country are understaffed and finding recruiting a challenge. PPD's recruiting team has been hard at work and has been able to increase the number of applicants, month by month, from 2022.  Recruiters participate in at least one high-attendance event per week, are visible at Arizona colleges and universities, speak in criminal justice classes and maintain open lines of communication with prospective applicants.

Our SWET Program (Success with Effort and Training) is community outreach led by the Recruiting Unit.  This program provides free physical fitness training to those who are thinking about applying, or who are already in the application process, and need extra help with their physical fitness level. Attendees come from all over the greater Phoenix area with more than half of the participants being women. The program has been so successful, other law enforcement agencies have created physical fitness outreach programs of their own, using Phoenix as their model.

In 2022, the Phoenix Police Department partnered with the Department of Defense SkillBridge program to employ retiring military service members. Each person hired under this program not only provides quality training and job experience for the service member but is also a cost savings to the City in salary and benefits. The Academy will have its first SkillBridge member in March 2024.

This year the Department created a Police Marketing and Recruiting Team. This team focuses on direct outreach, advertising, social media and all things marketing to increase applicants. The JOINPHXPD electronic footprint has been massively expanded with the anticipation of the launch of our new recruiting website in early January 2024. A key achievement by this team has been our sponsorship of Grand Canyon University Athletics. The JOINPHXPD brand now reaches tens of thousands of current and former students daily. GCU athletic events sponsored by JOINPHXPD have given the Department local and national exposure showing that we have career opportunities for everyone.

The 30 X 30 Initiative continues to be a focus as we close 2023. In late 2022, City leaders signed the initiative pledging to have 30% female representation in academy classes by the year 2030. This initiative also targets promotions and advancements of women already on the department. Currently the sworn personnel on the Department is 14% women, higher than the national average.

TRAINING

The Phoenix Police Department is continuously working to advance its policy, training and tools to best serve the community. Part of this commitment involved a revision of the “Use of Force" policy, which lasted much of 2023 and invited input from several stakeholders.

This policy revisions were done with public input, a first for Phoenix PD, but a process that will be utilized when major policy changes are being made. Over the course of two weeks, more than 800 comments from internal and external stakeholders were received. Input from the Department of Justice was also taken into consideration. The draft is in its final stages and will not be implemented until all officers are trained on it.  

Interim Chief Sullivan made a big push for continued training in 2023. Several Department wide trainings are underway which focused on de-escalation. Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics (ICAT) training is being taught to members of the department and focuses on dealing with subjects who are in crisis and may be armed with weapons other than a firearm. To date, over 400 members of the department have successfully completed this training. By the end of 2024, all sworn officers are expected to have completed ICAT.

All employees sworn and professional area also being required to receive Active Bystandership in Law Enforcement (ABLE) training. This program stresses active intervention by employees in situations where others may be doing something out of policy or harmful. The goal is to reduce mistakes, prevent misconduct, and improve health and wellness of employees. Students learn how to recognize when to intervene and how to effectively do so. This training will make our department stronger and better equipped to serve and connect with the community. To date over 1600 city employees have been trained with over 50% of both the sworn employees and the professional having completed the ABLE training.

Throughout the years Phoenix Police Department Training Bureau has routinely been identified as a leader and model for other law enforcement agencies. This includes the basic training for police recruits and advanced training for those working for the department.  During this past year, the Training Bureau hosted many members of local, national and international law enforcement groups to include those from Ukraine, Germany, and Colombia.

PPD's Training Bureau lead the way on establishing and implementing a new firearms qualification for all law enforcement officers statewide. This was done to make the qualification itself a better representation of instances that may be encountered by an officer in a critical incident. This successful venture culminated in the new qualification standards to be used beginning in 2023.

In addition, hundreds of officers have been trained in less lethal options including 40mm and pepper ball. These tools have become essential in everyday police work in deescalating scenarios that otherwise may have turned into a critical incident.

The Training Bureau continued their efforts to ensure that Phoenix police officers have the training and tools necessary to efficiently handle calls for service while considering the safety of all involved.

DOJ INVESTIGATION

This year the Phoenix Police Department continued its full cooperation with the Department of Justice investigation which began in August 2021. This cooperation is reflected in the Department sharing over179,000 documents, 22,000 Body Worn Camera videos, 200 hours of ride-a-longs with officers and facilitating over 100 interviews with city employees to include Interim Chief Michael Sullivan and City Manager Jeff Barton. Chief Sullivan has repeatedly said that the Department will continue to be a self-assessing self-correcting agency, regardless of the DOJ investigation and its conclusions. The public can find out extensive information and more details about how the City is responding to the investigation on our dedicated website.  

CHAMPIONSHIP CITY

The Valley is being dubbed the “Championship City" as it has become routine for us to host some of the largest worldwide sporting events. This past year was no different starting with Superbowl LVII in February, hosted on the same weekend as the PGA's Waste Management Open bringing thousands of fans to the Valley. After months of planning, the multi-agency operation went off without a hitch and was yet another win for the law enforcement agencies that were heavily involved. And it didn't stop there. Phoenix also hosted the World Baseball Classic and the World Series without one major security incident. The success of all these events is a testament to the working relationships with our federal, state, county and local partners. These partnerships have become the model nationwide for these types of large events.

BRING ON 2024

Throughout January 2024, the City is inviting members of the community to attend a presentation on the Department of Justice investigation. During these community presentations, a representative from the Phoenix Police Department and from the City of Phoenix Law Department will provide an update on the timeline and status of the investigation.

These presentations will include an overview of what the DOJ is investigating, and what the City of Phoenix is doing to cooperate. Presenters will also communicate what steps are being taken to continuously improve The Phoenix Police Department. Attendees will be allowed to ask relevant questions and share any concerns they may have.

For more information and links to ongoing reforms and updates, please visit phoenix.gov/doj

In April, the Valley will again host a large-scale sporting event when then NCAA Final Four comes to town. This operation will mirror those of the Superbowl and the World Series which both came to the Phoenix area in 2023. This will be yet another opportunity for the City and Department to show our expertise in these types of operations. There is no doubt that the Phoenix Police Department will again conduct a successful operation throughout the several days that this event is happening.

The last part of 2023 saw the “wall-breaking" of what will become the new Phoenix Police Headquarters. The 27-story tower located at 100 W. Washington is approximately 500,000 square feet. The hope is that move-in will take place in the fall of 2024 beginning with the 911 Communications Department.

The Phoenix Police Department is grateful for the community support and engagement. Because of that incredible partnership we have one of the safest major cities in the country. As we look forward to another outstanding year, we renew our vow to strengthen our partnership with our community, increase transparency and continue the outstanding service Phoenix deserves.  

Original source can be found here.