Phoenix City Council Policy Meeting - April 15, 2025

Good afternoon. I'll now call the
Phoenix City Council meeting to order.
Will the clerk call the role? Councilman
Galindra Vida here. Councilwoman Wardado
here. Councilwoman Hodgej Washington
here. Councilwoman Pastor here.
Councilman Robinson here. Councilwoman
Stark here. Counciloman Wearing here.
Vice Mayor O'Brien here. Mayor Ggo here.
Thank you for joining us. Uh we have
Spanish interpretation here and
available. Mario, would you please
introduce yourself?
Yes, mayor. Thank you. Good afternoon.
My name is Mario Vahas. I'm going to be
working together with Elsie Darte as far
as the Spanish interpretation as was
mentioned previously. Now, I'll take a
moment to introduce ourselves to our
Spanish speaking audience.
We want to start this.
Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. And we want
to welcome Councilwoman elect Anna
Hernandez. The next time we meet, the
elect will be removed and it'll be
officially councilwoman on
Monday, which means it is a milestone
meeting as well for Councilman Galindel
Alva. And I think several of us will
have comments on that. Uh we'll begin
with council information and follow-up
requests. Who would like to go first?
Councilwoman Stark.
Thank you, Mayor. I just want to take a
moment to uh say, Carlos, you have been
a pleasure to work with. It's an honor
knowing you. You are such a kind,
generous person. I'm really going to
miss you on council. You have done a lot
for district 7, but not only seven. You
really cared about the rest of the city
and I appreciate that. I appreciate you
would come to me, you reach out, you had
questions, and I would do the same with
you. you really reflect what's about
being a council person and I know in
your next endeavors will be just as
wonderful because you're just a
wonderful person. It's a pleasure
working with you.
Councilwoman Haj Washington. I also
would like to extend my deepest
gratitude to Councilman Carlos Galindo
Vera. Um, you have been on council for a
little over a year and your presence and
contribution truly make a difference and
they go a long way in building trust and
collaboration on this day as throughout
our community. It has been my pleasure
to serve alongside you particularly
where we've worked together on our
shared villages of South Mountain and
Lavine. I truly appreciate not only your
partnership but your friendship. You've
been a consistent champion and a true
advocate for our communities. You are a
gentleman in every sense of the word.
Um, as the council member or district
number eight, I was used to always go in
last. Um, but you have also made sure
many times that I get to speak before
you because you're a gentleman. So, I
wanted to say thank you for that. I hope
our path continues to cross in the
future. Your collaborative spirit has
made working with you very easy and
effective. You've always been willing to
step up, lead support, and help
wherever. I will cherish the memories
we've had from our joint living
quarterly to our district 7 and district
8 holiday party which was a blast and I
just look forward to these moments
reflect your commitment to unity and our
community. I just wanted to publicly
thank you for the honor to serve with
you in many capacities.
Mayor Councilwoman Gordado, thank you.
just following what everyone else has
saying, it's been an honor to serve with
you on the council here now for a little
bit over a year. Um for us to be able to
sit next to each other during the
meetings and being able to like talk
about, you know, sometimes help you with
with some of the issues that are
happening and vice versa. I think um our
constituents that definitely use at Los
Park are going to be very grateful for
the chilled to water fountain that
they're going to get there thanks to
you. to thank you for all of your
leadership and everything that you
compacted in one year, right? I think
you were like the Energizer Bunny that
just kept going and going and going and
going. I was like, "Calm down." It's
like, "No, buddy. Let's go. Let's go."
So, I appreciate that. And just also how
you elevated women um through all of
this and and all the different events
that we were a part of and just you know
how great you were to work with and how
you always gave all of us our place in
terms of all the all the things that
we've done here on the council and how
great you've been um on all the
different issues that we've been able to
work on and some fun stuff, some not fun
stuff. Um you know, but I think it's
part of the job. I think the only thing
I won't appreciate is that now I'm gonna
be number one when it comes to voting.
But other than that, I I think that, you
know, definitely enjoyed working with
you and and enjoyed getting getting to
know you as well. So, we're all going to
miss you.
Councilman Wearing. Uh thank you, Mayor.
I appreciate it. I'm not going to lie.
Cherish would be way too much. But, uh
cause I've enjoyed working with you. Uh,
I appreciate the fact that even though
you and I don't always agree, you're
always positive. You're always upbeat.
You always have energy. Um, so all the
things that I probably don't have
myself. Uh, but I appreciate uh very
much that. I sometimes sort of feed off
that. So we've had uh our rounds and
rounds and that's completely fine. But
uh but I do enjoy your company. You're
kind of a hoot. So I appreciate that. um
uh you want to just I'll just tell you,
you know, you're you're always positive
and I I think there is definitely a
place uh in these inemp times for that
and it's appreciated by me. Thank you,
Vice Mayor.
I also would like to say thank you for
all that you did while you were on the
council. Um while it was a short period
of time, you um put a lot into that
short period of time. you did not waste
one second of your time um on city
council and did much to elevate not only
your district but the entire district.
So or the entire city. I apologize.
Thank you for your professionalism, your
kindness. You always had a smile and um
I I might even my mom might have even
said uh some rosecolored glasses, but
thank you for all of that.
Councilman Robinson.
Thank you, Mayor. You know, I I echo
what everybody has said, Carlos, but the
one thing that we had in common, not
that our council districts buted up to
each other or anything like that, but
our offices did, which I I was happy I
obviously very happy when you were
appointed to the position and then voted
into the position. But what I really
enjoyed most about you is that you had
as much fun in your office as I think we
had in ours because you can constantly
hear us through we could hear each other
through our walls and such. But um you
you have been a gentleman. Um I've
appreciated your thoughtfulness and how
you approached this position knowing
that you were in it for a temporary
amount of time that it it speaks volumes
of your character and who you are. So it
was my pleasure having been your
neighbor for the last year, but it's
truly um a pleasure having the
opportunity to have worked with you on
the council. So thank you very much and
good luck.
uh wanted to acknowledge that even
though you've been here just over a
year, you seem to have gotten several
years of accomplishments into one year.
It's been fabulous to serve with someone
who's such a stellar example of public
service. Um someone who's also served as
a mayor in your case of Hayden and so
good to have two mayors on on one city
council and you're certainly an example
of how public service can make a lasting
impact. There are many areas where
you've made an impact, but I'll just
highlight two in particular. First,
making sure there's more shelter
available for those who need it most,
those experiencing
homelessness. You've worked with
neighborhood leaders to make sure that
as we build new facilities, we make sure
that they help neighborhoods and and
really listen to their concerns. And
then second, you've been such a great
leader to make sure our most vulnerable
have access to heat respit during our
summer months. You came in while it was
getting quite hot and hit the ground
running on that particular issue where
you're the only city in the state to
offer 247 heat relief centers and you've
been a really important leader in making
sure that happens and helping bring now
not just one but two locations to the
district. So, I'm really going to miss
working with you in this capacity and so
many more. And thank you so much for
your service and don't be a
stranger.
Should we now go to PowerPoint
presentations if that works? The
councilman's gonna be speaking last
today and we'll have multiple exciting
presentations. Should we go back to
district 8? Uh, is that right? Or would
you want to district four? You want to
go next?
District eight and then we'll next
district four.
Thank you, mayor. There's been a few
events since our last policy meeting,
but I wanted to highlight quite a few.
Next slide,
please. Um, I was honored to attend the
74th Latino leaders lunchon last week
celebrating the impactful Latino
leadership across the country and
recognize the honores for their
outstanding contribution. It was also my
pleasure to attend the 16th annual fresh
brunch hosted by 1 in 10 celebrating and
uplifting the LGBT plus youth in our
community. The energy in the room was
filled with love, resilience, and hope
for the future. Events like this remind
us how important it is to create safe,
affirming spaces for every young person.
We also unveiled Pastor CR McDuffy Way
at 13th Avenue and Buckeye Road.
Honoring a true community pillar, Pastor
McDuffy's legacy of service, feeding the
hungry, uplifting youth, and
strengthening our economy continues to
inspire. His leadership was not only
spoken but lived. Thank you to St. John
Institutional Baptist Church, the
McDuffy and our city team for making
this tribute possible. Next
slide. I also celebrated the reopening
of Perry Park and what a beautiful
example of what community collaboration
can achieve. From dancing and games to
meaningful connections. It was a day
filled with joy and pride. Thank you to
every resident, partner, and city staff
member who made this moment possible.
Next slide.
Last week, we also did our coffee chat
at the Caesar Chavez Community Center,
which I think was a great success.
Residents from Lavine came to share
their thoughts, raise concerns, and and
talk through ideas to make District 8
even better. These conversations help
shape real solutions that affect our
community's needs. Thank you to everyone
who joined us. I also hosted the
District 8 Health and Welfare at the
South Phoenix Youth Center, bringing
vital services directly to our
residents. Attendees receive free health
screening, financial resources, and
wellness tools to support their daily
lives. Events like this ensure our
community is healthy, informed, and
empowered. We are grateful to all of our
partners who helped make this event a
success. Next
slide. I also intended the citywide and
the district 8 budget hearings to hear
from our community on what they want to
see included in our upcoming budget.
April is also fair housing mount month
and I am grateful for the opportunity to
join in the reaffirmation of the city's
support of the fair housing act and its
commitment to reducing barriers in
housing for all residents. Later that
day, I was able to merge two of my
passions at the ASU pre-law banquet.
One, encouraging the next generation of
legal professionals and two, explaining
my passion for and the need for equal
access to legal counsel when facing an
eviction. Last week, I also attended the
Maropa County NAACP dinner and community
awards where our own city manager, Jeff
Barton, was honored with the Trailbaser
Award. I won't embarrass him with a
photo, but I will again convey my
congratulations to him. Congratulations,
Jeff. Next
slide. My office has two upcoming events
that I would like to highlight. Join us
on Wednesday, April 17, for an important
conversation about the redevelopment of
city-owned property at 24th Street and
Broadway Road. This is a chance for
residents to give feedback, ask
questions, and help shape the future of
this vital corner of our community. The
meeting will take place at the Broadway
Heritage Neighborhood Resource Center at
6 p.m. Your voice matters. Come and be a
part of the process. Also, mark your
calendars. The District A Community
Cookout is happening on Saturday, May
3rd from 12 to 4:00 p.m. at Hermosa
Park. Join us for an afternoon of
delicious food, music, games, and
community connection. It's a great
opportunity to relax, meet your
neighbor, and celebrate everything that
makes District 8 special. We can't wait
to see you there. Next
slide. As always, if you need help with
city services or notice an issue in your
neighborhood, don't hesitate to reach
out to my office. That is all I have.
Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. We'll go
next to Councilwoman Pastor in District
4. Thank
you. Um, I'll just get started. I'll
wait for the slides. Um, we had an
incredible turnout uh for our Cesar
Cesar Chavez day cleanup on the west
side. Over 60 students from Broofphy
Central, Carl Hayden North and Cesar
Chavez High School joined us. Volunteers
from APS, Amazon, and the Morris KUD
Doll community as
well. Thank you, Rosie and Greg and
Melissa from the neighborhood services
who provided everything that was needed.
And thank you to the principal Gary
Gllay from the UD doll school who
allowed us to use that property on their
day off. I really appreciate that. And
thank you for everybody who took their
who took the day off to be with me. Next
slide. We are committed to ending the
HIV AIDS epidemic by 2030. As a co-chair
of FastTrack Cities, I'm so proud of the
progress we've made. We are focusing on
testing, prevention, treatment, and zero
stigma. And that's what this mural
represents, the progress we've made, the
work we've continued to do, and those
who fought with us. And I'd like to
thank the mayor for thinking of this
idea and pushing it f forward. And I
also like to thank my co-chair, uh,
Councilwoman
Stark. Yesterday, we celebrated the
grand opening of Osborne Point. Osborne
Point is designed to serve individuals
who are homeless or at risk of
homelessness, a victim of or are fleeing
domestic violence, sexual assault,
stalking or human
trafficking, requires supportive
services to prevent homelessness, and
are a veteran who meets one of the
criteria listed. We have added 48 new
units within District 4.
Next
slide. Another fresh brunch in the
books. I'm always honored to support
events that uplift the work being done
to uplift and empower LGBTQIA youth in
Phoenix. It has been a year since the AD
ADA accessible playground opened at
Encano Park. We celebrate by hosting all
the inclusive egg hunt. You can move
this side. A very special shout out to
the Kowanas Club of Phoenix for putting
this event together, for always
supporting our community members with
all
abilities. The long awaited opening of
the South Central Extension is finally
scheduled for June 7th, this project has
been in the works for 15 years.
Originally planned to open in 2034. I'm
proud to have been part of this historic
investment in our community. Soon, South
Phoenix will be connected to our
existing and ever growing light rail
system. Join us tomorrow at 6 PM at the
Mville Community Center for a Spanish
language budget hearing. Share feedback
on the city manager's proposed fiscal
year 202526 trial budget. Community
input is key. This meeting will be held
in Spanish only. So, if you need English
headsets, you're more than welcome to
ask for them.
I'm hosting a community listening
session focused on public safety. We
will address the ongoing issues on 35th
Avenue and 27th Avenue. Join us to ask
us any questions you have and to learn
more about the city's efforts to improve
these areas and make them safer. Scan
the QR code at the top left corner to
register.
And one of you, some of you may have
wondered why I did not say uh thank you
to Councilman uh Carlos Galindo Avida.
That's because I had a slide. Um this
past year has been an eventful uh
eventful working with uh the
councilman and uh he made the most of
it. He started with uh well he didn't
start with but he hosted the incredible
Latina shaping the future event
highlight high highlighting the power of
Latinas in
Arizona. He he also was recognizing the
women behind the farm workers
movement and he dedicated the Avanita de
Mueres street sign.
Thank you working for Thank you,
Councilman working with Mary Rose Wilcox
as she will be recognized via a street
sign. I also like to thank Councilwoman
Haj Washington in this effort. During
his time in office, he worked on funding
the fire department chilled bag
initiative, tree plantings in district
7, funding for a chill water station,
and he donated his salary to local
community organizations within his
district.
Thank you, Councilman, for your great
work. It was quick, fast, and furious,
but you did it. Thank you. Oh, I have
one more. And as always, contact me.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilwoman Gordonado. Thank
you, Mayor. As you know, D5 is always
busy with events and programming, and we
are continuing that trend as we move
into the summer months. On March 29th,
D5 celebrated the grand opening of Grand
Canalcape, which unveiled phase three of
the Grand Canalscape, adding four miles
of outdoor amenities in a safe new space
for neighbors to exercise and enjoy the
outdoors. I want to thank all of our
partners and neighbors who participated
in the event and helped us re us realize
the completion of this project. Special
shout out to the Mville Mariachi
Marville High School Mariachi that was
there. Um very impressive. Thank you
guys for for all you guys did. I also
want to thank thank you mayor for your
support and participation in this long
awaited event. We had a lot of fun. We
did a lot of things. Saw a lot of
children and just the faces on the
neighbors and the bikers and everyone
that was there. Um but they are now able
to enjoy a new amenity. Now, some
upcoming events in D5 this Saturday at
Homestead Park. There will be an Easter
Jubilee on on from 10:00 a.m. to 1 PM.
There will be an egg hunt, bounce
houses, food, and music for everyone to
enjoy. You can also expect to get a
picture with the Easter Bunny. So, mark
your calendars for this weekend. Also
mark on your calendar for our next MVL
Marcado on April 26 from 2:00 p.m. to 6
pm at the Mville Community Center. I am
excited to share that we will be
celebrating Children's Day via the del
Nino. We will have tons of toys, free
toys for all of the children that show
up to this event. We will have a various
activities for kids to enjoy such bounce
houses, water slides. again, the free
toys. Also, in partnership with the fire
department, we will be hosting a bike
rodeo and car seat check and another
little surprise that the fire department
will have for the kids um once we get
started. We look forward to seeing
everyone there and looking forward to to
this summer. Um thank you,
Mayor. Thank you. I want to join
Councilwoman Hodgej Washington in
congratulating Jeff Barton on his NAACP
Maricopa County Branch Trailblazer
Award. This award recognizes individuals
who have broken new ground in advancing
justice, equity, and access for
historically marginalized communities.
It recognizes not only those who lead
with vision, but who actively work to
clear a path for others to follow. This
award affirms what many in our city
already know, that Jeff is a principled
leader and a committed public servant.
Through his decades of public service,
he has strengthened city operations,
championed fiscal responsibility, and
prioritized equity, showing that when
leadership reflects the diversity of the
people it serves, the entire city
benefits. Congratulations, Jeff.
[Applause]
Whoop. Does anyone have any additional
comments before we go to
Councilman Galinda Alivera. All right,
Councilman. Thank you,
Mayor. Um, my elementary school teachers
would be surprised that I'm
speechless. Uh, but uh uh I'm grateful
for the opportunity to to go last. Um I
kind of like having the final word. Um
but it's really not been about that.
It's really been about working with
everyone and really learning from you
all and gaining a new appreciation for
what I've always believed that different
political ideas are not the dividing
line for civility, decorum or respect.
And many of you um I learned from you
and I enjoyed um uh your feedback and
but nobody gave me feedback like Betty
Ward and she could do it in both
languages. So, it it it was sweet and it
stung, but you know what? It really made
me a better leader. So, much gracias,
Betty. Um, and uh, of course, my my good
friend Laura Pastor. We've known each
other since college and yes, she has
always been that
feisty and I respect her so much for it.
And from the vice mayor, an O'Brien, I
have really enjoyed your principal
leadership along with that of Jim
Wearing and Kevin Robinson. Man, it was
great catching up with you, knowing you
from the community, being a good
neighbor. And uh he says we can hear
each other through the thin walls, but I
never heard your
parties. And um nobody on the council is
more aware or understanding of planning
and zoning issues like Deborah Stark.
And when uh I had questions uh it was
good learning and I really appreciated
your patience um and to my partner in so
many events and in uh in so many um
sponsorship of things Kesha Hajj
Washington she's brilliant and we were
in a meeting one time and I broke out
with asking a question using a legal
term and she turned around and just said
look at you and that's the highest
compliment from somebody like Kesha Hajj
Washington who's a lawyer and of course
all I could say is hey I watch my law
and
order. Um but I want to get to my uh
presentation because we got business
still. We we're here to do the people's
business and we got to make sure that
happens. Next slide please. Wishing a
joyful and meaningful Passover to all
who celebrate. May the season of
reflection, freedom, and renewal bring
peace to your home and community. Hag
hag
pesak. Um, last month we had the
privilege of honoring the women of the
farmworker movement. Oh, next slide.
Sorry. Last month we had the privilege
of honoring the women of the farmworker
movement with a commemorative street
sign. Today, I'm proud to present copies
of that sign to two of our own city
employees, both of whom are direct
descendants of women or who have played
a role in that powerful movement. First,
we have Henry Cruz from our streets
department. This is a story of what
happened with Henry. Henry, I'll call
I'll call both of them up. We're going
to take a picture, but I want to tell
everybody a story. So Henry was supposed
to have the day off on that Saturday,
but he came in and he met with our chief
of staff, Ila Gamies, and and uh he
asked, "What's going on here?" And Ila
said, "Well, we're um we're honoring the
women of the movement, and that's
Santaita Hall." And Henry said, "Well,
my my nana um used to go there and she
knew Sar Chavez." And Leila asked him,
"Well, who was your nana?" And he said,
"Terry Cruz." Terry Cruz was one of the
ladies we were honoring that morning and
it just by happen stance he was the
person to unveil the ceremonial sign and
it was just a great moment that life is
circular and the movement continues
through its
descendants. And secondly, I want to
recognize Jose Casper Abre from our
parks department who um has
given four decades of service to the
city of Phoenix, but he's also been the
keeper of the flame for the cause. He
takes a personal interest in making sure
that Santaita Hall is open and that that
history is never forgotten. And so I'd
like to um invite both gentlemen to come
backstage and take a picture with the
council so that I can present them their
their um street sign for them to have as
a memory of that day and as a thank you
for the work they do for our community.
[Applause]
Congratulations.
[Applause]
Okay.
As people get to their seats, I'm going
to go ahead and continue with my
presentation so that we get a chance to
move along. Uh we celebrated the opening
of a new shelter and resource center in
District 7. This is a major step forward
in supporting those experiencing
homelessness. This facility isn't just a
shelter. It's a lifeline to stability,
resources, and hope for our community. A
huge thank you to everyone who helped
bring this project to life, especially
the staff of Office of Homeless
Solutions who have the most who are
talented and extremely caring for our
community. Next
slide. Last week, I joined Mayor Ggo,
Councilwoman Stark, and Councilwoman
Pastor and our community to unveil the
HIV AIDS mural at the Parson Center for
Health and Wellness. This powerful piece
honors HIV advocacy and our commitment
to ending the epidemic. Next
slide. This Oh, this past Saturday, we
officially opened Farmland Park in
Lavine, Phoenix's 188th park. The new
space features a shaded playground for
kids, two basketball courts, a skate
park, and offering an and
and pickle ball. Everybody wants pickle
ball.
And this uh space offers something for
everyone in the community to enjoy. Next
slide. I'm excited to say I finished
visiting all the fire stations in
District 7 and along the way I got to
cook dinner at each one. It was great u
to hang out with the crews and thank
them for everything they do. Big thank
you to Mayor Ggo for joining me at fire
station number one. Next
slide. Yesterday I had my final police
briefing with Chief Sullivan. I want to
personally thank him for his service to
our city and wish him all the best in
his next
endeavors. Next
slide. Earlier this week, I visited
Phoenix Rescue Mission. They're an
organization that provides life
transforming solutions to individuals
individuals facing hunger, homelessness,
addiction, and trauma through a variety
of programs addressing both immediate
and long-term needs. Next slide.
Um, I visited the Neighborhood Christian
Clinic yesterday for a tour and to thank
them for their upcoming work to provide
on-site mental health services for their
clients. Annually, more than 10,000
persons receive healthcare and dental
services. Next slide. Tomorrow. Tomorrow
we're celebrating the legendary Wallace
and Ladmo show with a ceremonial street
sign at the corner of First Avenue,
McKinley. And yes, attendees will get a
chance to get a Lammo bag while supplies
last. Please don't call. I'm not
reserving any. It's a first come, first-
serve basis to be fair to everyone. Next
slide. Um, I'd like to invite in invite
all of you to join myself and
Councilwoman Kesha Hajj Washington on
Saturday at 9:00 a.m. at Grant Park
where we'll be honoring Mary Rose Wilcox
with a ceremonial street naming. It will
take place on the corner of Second
Avenue and Grant Street. I hope to see
you there as we celebrate her remark her
remarkable contributions to our
community.
Next
slide. As I close, I want to take a
moment to thank the incredible District
7 community. Serving you has truly been
one of the greatest honors of my life.
From day one, you welcome me with open
arms, and I'm deeply grateful for your
trust and support. I also want to extend
my heartfelt thanks to Mayor Ggo and my
fellow council
members. It's been a privilege to work
alongside with you in service to our
city. Thank you for the opportunity to
be a part of this journey. And I
especially want to thank the staff of
District 7, the chief of staff, Leila
Gamis, and Grant Harrison who oversaw
our constituent services. Because of
you, we were successful. And a note
about Phoenix City staff. I have found
staff to be dedicated, professional, and
just full of heart. They care about our
community. They want us to succeed. And
truly all of us here on the dis we're
the elected ones we get the headlines
and the quotes but it's the staff who
make the magic happen who ensure that
the services that we provide to our
residents happen and that they are
quality services. So from the bottom of
my heart thank you Phoenix city staff.
Thank you mayor. Thank you councilman.
Can we get a round of applause for the
councilman?
[Applause]
And with that, we will go to agenda item
one. But the recognitions are not over.
So, we'll ask everyone to come forward
for a a public safety update. Um, for
those of folks who have
not been following the council closely,
last September the city council
unanimously passed a series of public
safety reforms to provide for greater
transparency and accountability, as well
as improve how we interact with
vulnerable communities. As part of that
effort, we asked city staff and the
police department to provide regular
updates to the public and council on
those reforms, and this is one of those
updates. There is always more work to
do, but I'm proud of the progress we've
made so far. Our community assistance
program is making sure we're responding
with trained behavioral health
professionals and services when it's
more appropriate than a police officer.
And the changes we're making within the
police department will improve the
training of our officers, make it easier
for the public to engage, and for us to
invest in
accountability. Before we start this uh
the we'll have some additional
recognitions. Today is Chief Sullivan's
last city council meeting. Chief, you're
leaving the department and the city of
Phoenix better than you found it. Thank
you for lending us your great expertise.
We called upon you in our toughest of
times, including while we were
navigating the Department of Justice
investigation. You've made changes that
are far far extend far beyond that. most
importantly to make our department, our
officers safer and our community
safer. There are few law enforcement
professional I've known who as committed
as you are to always looking at ways to
improve policing and make the city
better. I'm grateful to you, your
family, who shared you with us and wish
you the best in the future. So, thank
you for that. And then I want to
congratulate Shannon Johani for her
appointment as our permanent director of
the office of accountability and
transparency. She did an exceptional job
as the interim director of the office
and has led her team put to put together
a comprehensible, thoughtful and
meaningful series of reports about how
our department can improve. Many of
those ideas have already been adopted by
the city council or the department. So
I'm looking forward to working with you
and learning more from you. And before
we introduce the main presentation,
anyone have any addition? Oh, Councilman
Robinson.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, the mayor stole a
lot of my thunder on um wanting to thank
the chief, but I want to explain a
couple of things, but I need to give you
a little bit of context. And that
context is because of a variety of
happen stances. I had the the pleasure
of having worked with every Phoenix
police chief directly, reporting
directly to every Phoenix police chief
since Ruben Ortega. And that goes back
to before a lot of you were born. That
says a lot more about me than you, but
um it goes back to Ruben took office in
January of 1980. I hit the streets in
December of 1980. And later in my
career, I was appointed to a position
where I reported directly to Chief
Ortega. Then when Chief Ortega retired,
I reported directly to Dennis Garrett.
After Dennis Garrett, I reported
directly to Harold Hurt. I was an
assistant chief by that time. And the
same with Jack Harris, the same with
Danny Garcia, the same with Joe Yoner,
and then Jerry Williams. Each and every
one of those
chiefs brought something different to
the organization.
But Chief Sullivan, I will tell you this
and I I I say this without any
hesitation whatsoever. What you did was
tremendous. The amount of work, the
amount
of success that you had in making things
happen within this organization cannot
go unnoticed. It cannot go unrecognized.
And I say that because it was in
the mid to late 90s. We tried to change
the use of force policy for the Phoenix
Police Department. I think most of your
executive staff were officers at the
time and stuff like that. There was a
guy by the name of Mike Frasier who went
who was a commander at the time who went
on to be an executive assistant chief
with Phoenix, police chief at two other
agencies and a city manager at at
another city. Mike couldn't get that
done and we tried. We tried like hell
and it was one of those things. But
Chief, you had what I truly referred to
as the profiles and courage because you
knew what it meant to make decisions
that people would not like.
And that is true
leadership. There's no way around it.
Nothing you can say about it. I mean,
that is it. I mean, you demonstrated
what we needed as an organization. And
as the mayor just said, you know, you
came here, you're leaving it in a much
better position than what you founded
in. And I think we owe you a great deal
of gratitude for that. I personally wish
I had had the opportunity to work for
you simply because you know you provided
that type of demonstrative leadership
that I think each and every one of us
can learn from. So thank you very much
for your time and all that you have done
and the sacrifices that you have made.
And mayor, thank you very much for the
time. Thank you Councilwoman Gordado.
Thank you mayor as well. Don't want to
echo everything but echoing everything
that everyone has said. Um, thank you,
Chief, for everything that you did. Um,
I enjoyed a lot working with you. Um,
the reforms that you did, everything
that you did for the department. I'll
just say it again. You're leaving the
department better than it was when you
first got here. Also want to thank your
family for the sacrifice and everything
they had to go through and do to make
sure that you were able to come here and
do the job that you did. Um, it was
tremendous work. Um, you know, I'm sad
to see you go, but you know, I also wish
you the best on whatever is out there
for you next. And everyone should know
that what you did here is going to cause
an impact in our community um, for
decades to come. It's something that was
needed at the moment. Um, and I
appreciate all of your hard work, all
the changes that you made, all the
implementations that you did. I think it
was work that needed to get done. So, we
I will forever be grateful for all of
the work that you did. Thank you. And
also, Shannon, welcome. Um,
congratulations on on your new position
and looking forward um to working with
you. I know that you've already done a
lot of good work and can't wait to get
briefings with you and figure out how is
it that my office can be helpful to you
as we continue to move forward. Thank
you, Mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman
Stark.
Thank you. So, Chief, as the only other
um employee that knows how to pronounce
Louisville correctly, I'm going to miss
you. Um, I want to thank you uh for all
you've done and especially all the help
you've given us in District 3. I really
do appreciate it. You've been a
thoughtful leader. You've gotten us
through some tough times and um I know
you'll move forward to greatness, but we
sure are going to miss you here. Thanks
again,
Councilwoman Hud Washington and now Vice
Mayor and then Councilman Glendel. Thank
you, Mayor. I don't want to echo all the
sentiments, but I also want to say thank
you, Chief, for all that you have done.
I want to definitely wish you best
wishes in your next step. I want to
specifically say thank you for being
present, especially even in the
difficult conversations. When the DOJ
investigation came out, I asked you for
a town hall in my in my district, and
without hesitation, you said yes. You
sat through some very uncomfortable
conversations and I really appreciated
how you made the members of the
community feel seen and heard and as was
her as we heard you were able to do
things that other chiefs before you were
not able to do. Um it is I think it's
because you had a passion and a
dedication to leaving city better off
than you you came into it. But I really
just want to say thank you for always
being available and open and always
being willing to make be being there for
those hard calls and doing what you
believe to be right. You will be missed,
but we I truly appreciate all the work
you've done um specifically when it
comes to community relations. Thank you.
And also Shannon, I know you get to
follow the uh gratitude to Chief, but
welcome aboard. Thank you for um for
stepping into the role and look forward
to working with you as well.
Vice Mayor
Thank you so much, mayor. So, I'm going
to do it in the reverse and say
congratulations, Shannon. Um, and it's
it was about time. You did this job in
an interim capacity for 14 months. So,
thank you for doing that work in that
capacity and uh very excited to have you
in that role on a permanent basis. And
then, Chief, you came at an incredibly
difficult time and and took on a a job
that I'm not really sure um we ever
thought anybody would come and do. and
you implemented changes that were
incredibly difficult. And while you did
that, you also had a focus on decreasing
crime and making sure that our families
and citizens and visitors would be safe.
And for all of that work and the work on
your family because it's not just you.
It it is a family commitment. Um I'm
grateful to to you and your family. So,
thank you and best of luck in whatever
you do next. I hope you take a little
break, though.
First, Councilman Galindo Alvivera.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, Chief Sullivan, I
just want to say that I found you to be
one of the most honest, earnest, and
courageous persons that I've met. And I
appreciated that um you didn't shy away
from your job and that you knew um you
had a mission. You worked at it, and um
you took the time to explain um
especially when there needed to be
explanations um for um for incidents and
so forth. So, I do want to wish you
success and uh and just a lot of
appreciation, Shannon. Look forward to
sitting down with you soon um before I
leave. I know. I know. I'm still doing
meetings. I'm I'm still doing the
people's business. That's not going to
change. Um and um Chief Orander, I know
you'll be sworn in uh next Tuesday. I've
worked with you in the past uh
especially dealing with issues of bias
and your work in securing and making uh
communities that are vulnerable feel
secure. So um I do believe you'll do a
good job and um the change can't
stop. It can't be delayed and it cannot
be denied. It has to continue because
reform is the only way that this it's
the only arrow that matters that there
must be continued reform. So, good
luck, Councilwoman Pastor.
Thank
you. Um, there you go, Chief. Got you up
there. Wanted to thank you. wanted to
make sure you had a slide for yourself.
And uh as as you're smiling and I'm
smiling, we have a common common joke
between ourselves and we we're we're
we're real people in the sense of
getting down to business and really
talking about what needs to happen. Um
timing is everything.
So the timing is everything in the sense
that when you
entered it was at a space and time where
we needed
reform. We were under
DOJ. You understood DOJ. You understood
what reform and had implemented in
practiced what reform looked
like. And I appreciate that and I'm
grateful for that.
Because the change that has happened, as
stated
earlier, needed to happen decades
ago. And you were able to come during
that time and space to make it happen.
It also wouldn't have happened if there
hadn't been a
council that really
forced and understood what needed to
happen for
community and building the piece of
trust within the
community. It also wouldn't have
happened if oat hadn't been
created. And with Shannon sitting there
understanding the importance of oat and
working with the police chief and
believe bringing the accountability and
transparency that was needed not only
within our community but within the
police
department. You did incredible work
within the amount of time that you
had. And as I stated earlier, time is is
everything. Thank you for
that. Thank your family for moving and
doing what they the sacrifices that they
did for you to sacrifice for
Phoenix. And thank you for everything
that you have impacted within our
community because we will feel it and we
will see it in time.
take that break. Do what you want to do.
Enjoy
it and then enter back in because you
have this experience and somebody's
going to need you somewhere else. So,
thank you. Thank you, Shannon.
Congratulations, Councilman Wearing.
Thank you, Mayor. I appreciate it.
Chief, I from observation never thought
you gave anything less than 100% effort
to this. I'm sure probably at great
personal cost. I know you came in at a
really tough time for the department.
Uh, and I know how hard working for the
nine of us can probably be. I certainly
own more than my one ninth of that. I
have no doubt. Um, but one thing I know
for sure, you and I did not always
agree, but I thought you were always
direct and honest with me. Frankly, that
was something you shared with your
predecessors who were always extremely
candid, and I have always appreciated
that in my 13 years on this council, but
uh you know, for the the two of us,
sometimes we didn't always see eye to
eye, but uh to I forget who it was um
who said that you went out to community
meetings. You did that for me uh for
HOAs. I don't know if you remember that
uh right when you started. I appreciate
that. I always think reaching out to
members of the community is important.
You were certainly willing to do that.
you did personal follow-ups and you were
always extremely responsive. Uh no
matter how much you were probably
rolling your eyes as you were either
typing a response or calling me. Um uh
I'm self-aware. I'm just too much of a
jerk to change. But uh but you know
what? Even if we didn't always agree, I
I enjoyed working with you for that very
reason. You're an honorable person, and
I thought you gave a 100% effort to
this. I have to say I was shocked when I
got the news uh I guess a week ago or
so. Um I'm sure that was not a decision
taken lightly, but I have zero doubt you
did it not in self-interest but in the
interest of Phoenix and that is much
appreciated by me. So thank you. Uh good
luck and Godspeed in whatever you do
next.
Thank you. Thank you to all my
colleagues and and a congratulations as
well to Chief Dennis Orander who will be
taking over that fourth star, a 30-year
veteran of our police department who's
been all over the city in so many
different roles and been involved in the
community, including through valley
leadership, also served our country in
the Air Force. So, we're excited to have
you serving as our interim police chief.
Before we actually get to the PowerPoint
slides, would anyone whose name was just
mentioned like to say a few words?
No, thank you, man.
So, I want to start off uh and I have
some remarks that I'm going to talk to
you about in the presentation, but you
know, the credit really goes to the men
and women who do this work every single
day. uh they're dedicated to to go out
and make sure that this incredibly tough
work happens and they they uh they have
eyes on them from every angle and and
it's very difficult work and and we need
to continue to uplift them, inspire them
and make sure that they have the
training and policies in place uh to be
able to go out and do this work and and
build community trust and never forget
what we exist for, which is to prevent
and control crime. Thank you so much for
all the support that you've given me uh
during during my time here. Uh it's
something that I will never forget.
Thank you.
I'm sorry, mayor. May I actually speak?
I was going to say this at the end of my
presentation, but I think now will work.
I wanted to personally thank on behalf
of the whole Oat team, uh Chief
Sullivan. He has embraced Oat's work and
through his example and leadership, Oat
has really been able to build reciprocal
relationships with the department and
he's allowed us to bring that site into
the department that is critical for
transparency. The OT team is grateful
for the impact of your leadership and
example and how it has made that that
leadership and that example is a
critical component of embedding civilian
oversight in Phoenix and in the Phoenix
Police Department. and for that the OAT
team and I know the Phoenix community is
eternally grateful.
Thank you, Mayor Chief. I just want to
say thank you for your leadership. Uh
you've put me in the executive assistant
chief position, something that I will
forever be grateful for. Um I've seen
you work so hard over the last two and a
half years that you've been here and
you've made a positive impact on not
only the organization but this community
and so I want to thank you for that. I
wish you well. And to the mayor and
council, uh, thank you for your vote of
confidence. To Lori and Jeff, thank you
for your vote of confidence. And to the
men and women of the Phoenix Police
Department, I promise you that you will
get 110% from me. So, thank you.
Thank you. And congratulations. And now
I'll turn it over to our city leadership
to end introduce the main presentation.
Thank you, mayor. Good afternoon, mayor,
members of the council. Um, I would be
remiss if I didn't just take one minute
to also say thank you to Chief
Sullivan. He came into this role being
asked to do something that was very
significant and very difficult and he
did it um with 100% effort as was
mentioned and um with a heart for the
men and women in the department with a
heart for the community and with the
best interest of the city and of Phoenix
in mind. And so I just want to
personally thank him for um the service
that he has provided. I really believe
that there is a season for everything.
And as this season transitions and we
move into Chief Order's leadership, um I
think you will see that we've built a
very strong public safety team. And
public safety is not just about police.
It is about, you know, many facets of
city government as well as community
partnerships. And and I think that's um
you know what we will focus on today is
that partnership and how we work
together to build a stronger safer
community. And so what I will start with
is introducing the team that's going to
present to you today. Uh as you
mentioned, mayor, at the beginning, this
is our sixmonth update on the public
safety improvements that were approved
back in September of 2024. And we are um
very pleased to share with you the
progress that we've made. I think we've
made significant progress on these
objectives and um we will start by
talking about our office of homeless
solutions. Director Rachel Mily will
provide that portion of the
presentation. Then we will move into an
update on the community assistance
program cap and talk about um the
implementation of that expansion uh
which is very exciting. And then third,
we will talk about the police department
um six months deliverables and and the
progress on those. Many of those things
have been completed. Chief Sullivan will
talk about those. And then we will talk
about things that are in progress and on
the horizon and and Chief Orander will
talk about those. And then finally, we
will wrap up with an update on the
Office of Accountability and
Transparency and their oversight of the
police department recommendations that
they've made. And Director Johani will
talk about those. So, um, we will just
get started with the presentation. I
will warn you in advance, it's a little
bit lengthy. Um, but it is a lot of
really good information and so we hope
that you enjoy it. So, we'll turn it
over to Rachel.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor and
Council. I'm happy to be here today to
tell you about some of the additional
progress the Office of Homeless
Solutions has made in adding resources
to the homeless service system since our
last update with this group in September
and to provide updates on areas where OS
and the Phoenix Police Department are
furthering our collaboration.
OHS has been committed to expanding
resources over the last several years,
and we just celebrated our 10th project
that the city has created or funded in
the in the three-year period,
transforming the shelter system in our
region. Some of these projects expanded
existing shelter sites and some created
new sites in areas of the city where
services didn't exist before. Three of
the projects are owned by the city and
seven are owned by nonprofit partners.
Combined, we created over 1,200 new
indoor beds and 300 new spaces for
people at our safe outdoor space.
Additional projects in the pipeline will
result result in more than 200 safe
indoor beds. All of these resources add
to our ability as a city to offer
alternative placements to people in
unsheltered situations. Whether services
are offered by the Office of Homeless
Solutions, our nonprofit outreach
partners, or Phoenix police officers, we
have more resources and more safe places
in our community now than ever
before. Our most recent project was
already talked a little bit about
earlier today, but it is the new Phoenix
Navigation Center at 71st Avenue in
Vanurren. We celebrated the ribbon
cutting in March. However, we began
operating in a temporary capacity in
July of 2024.
Now that we are fully open, 280
individuals can utilize this site to
work to end their homelessness. The site
has a dorm that serves 100 men each
night, a dorm for 100 women each night,
and converted shipping containers that
provide 80 non- congregate units for
partners or people in need of private
space. The site also includes one large
communal space, as shown in the upper
left of this photo, for case management,
meals, and other services that are
offered at the site. We've created a
dignified safe place where people will
be supported with their individual
needs. Commander Saflar and the Mary
Veil Estraa Mountain Precinct have
partnered with us at this site from the
beginning, participating in our
community outreach and community
advisory committee meetings and helping
refer individuals to this shelter when
needed. This is an inside view of the
women's dorm um just before we opened it
to women in the community.
And this is a view of our X-wing units,
uh, which are the converted shipping
containers that we use as non-
congregate space for people in our
workforce program or people are couples
who wish to remain together. And this is
an interior shot of one of those X-wing
units. You can see it has plenty of
space for storage, um, a small desk and
a bed.
Since opening in a temporary capacity
last summer, this site has already
helped over 400 people out of
unsheltered situations and 58 of them
have ended their homelessness and moved
into housing. One recent story that my
team shared with me is of a young
gentleman experience experiencing
homelessness in the area. He had aged
out of the foster care system and found
himself unsheltered. He was referred by
an outreach team to the Phoenix
Navigation Center where he participated
in S. Vincent Depal's workforce
development program. He has since moved
out of the shelter into housing and is
maintaining his employment. Now that we
are occupying the full center, the full
space at the center, we anticipate
growing the number of people served
while maintaining our commitments to the
community, operating operating as a
closed campus with a workforce focus as
we helped connect people with the
resources they will need to end their
homelessness. The city's safe outdoor
space is located at 1537 West Jackson.
This site provides safe outdoor camping
spaces for individuals that who may not
be ready for an indoor shelter or
housing placement. It can serve up to
300 individuals at a time with 200 tent
spaces and 40 non- congregate spaces in
the X- wings again for vulnerable
individuals or people needing their own
private space. The site provides
restrooms, showers, laundry facilities,
as well as indoor space for cooling,
eating, and all case management
services. The downtown operations unit
and commander Cedar have been great
partners on this project. Having this
site has helped the police department
enforce the blocks close to camping
around the key
campus. This is a view of the large
shaded area with the turf that was
installed. Each individual at the site
is issued a tent and storage compartment
for their belongings when they
arrive. And we also have X-wing units at
this site. So here's a view of those
units. And again, they are dedicated for
people in our workforce programs or
individuals that are extremely
vulnerable. The safe outdoor space was
launched in November in 2023 as an
alternative to a typical shelter,
offering a safer option for people
experiencing unsheltered homelessness
who may not be ready again for that
typical shelter or housing. Its goal is
to work with individuals to help them
get ready for indoor shelter or housing.
It's resourced similarly to a shelter
with full case management, behavioral
health, and workforce services. We have
been successful in our goal of moving
people to indoor spaces and since
opening we've helped 218 individuals
move into a sheltered environment and
133 into a housed environment. OS has
partnered with Arizona at work, St.
Vinc, and St. Joseph the worker to
provide our workforce development
services at the site. These providers
meet with individuals seeking employment
opportunities and provide assistance
with resume building, job readiness,
clothing, and referrals to employers
with vacant positions. To date, we've
had 254 individuals at the safe outdoor
space participate in those
programs. Many supplemental services
have also been offered at this site to
guests, such as Valley Dog Rescue, who
provides preventative care and
vaccination efforts, Circle the City and
Street Medicine Phoenix, who are on site
providing basic medical needs and first
aid. We recently worked with a couple
from the Safe Outdoor Space who allowed
us to share their story on social media.
They stayed at they started their stay
at the safe outdoor space in a tent,
eventually moved on to an X-wing. They
found sobriety at the safe outdoor
space, participating in an outpatient
treatment program. They gained
employment and two weeks ago they moved
into their own unit. Um, and they are
going hoping to be reunited with their
children in the next few weeks as well.
One of the first and most important
procedures that OHS formalized is the
various ways in which we handle property
for people experiencing homelessness.
Having an excess of property is often a
barrier to entering shelter. Traditional
shelters may not have the capacity to
allow people to bring all their property
with them into that shelter. When we at
the city of Phoenix open or fund a new
shelter, we ensure that there is ample
storage for property to accommodate the
belongings of a an individual or family
may have. We also fund a property
storage program at the key campus. The
campus serves over a thousand people a
day at their site and our storage
program allows people anyone utilizing
those services to store their
belongings. And lastly, OHS put into
place a formal procedure for unattended
property which provides guidelines on
how our team assesses, provides written
notice, and stores property on an
unintended encampment. The process
involves a notification at the
encampment that we were there and we
will be storing the property when we
return. Once we return up to 24 hours
later, if the property remains and the
owner is still not present, the property
is stored and an additional notice is
provided to help the individuals connect
with us to obtain their property. When
an individual reaches out to be reunited
with their property, we bring that
property to them, allowing for an
additional engagement opportunity. Since
the unattended property storage program
began, we have stored 215 bins and 23 of
those bins have been returned to their
property to the property owners. All
three of the storage programs that I uh
described um utilize new containers from
our public works department and these
have kept our property storage system
organized as each container has a unique
code that we can associate with either
the individual it belongs to or the
location of the unattended property.
Office of Homeless Solutions and the
Police Department have continued to grow
our partnership in many ways. First with
property storage. OHS is collaborating
collaborating with the police department
to adapt our property storage procedure
to meet the Phoenix Police Department
needs. We currently provide assistance
to officers with our property storage
programs on an adne needed basis but are
working to formalize this procedure
providing a process in Phoenix CARES
that will trigger OS to document and
store property when PD requires our
assistance. OS and the police department
have honed our process to conduct what
we call our coordinated efforts. These
efforts occur when OHS is working in an
area that requires both homeless service
provisions and also assistance from the
police department to address any
possible criminal activity. Our OS
liaison have direct contact with
community action officers, sergeants,
and lieutenants in each precinct and
have a process in place to schedule
these coordinated efforts. One of our
biggest biggest successes in these
efforts has been in the Lavine area at
51st Avenue and Baseline where we had
coordinated efforts weekly for over a
year to help address a complex issue in
that community that required both
homeless services and enforcement of
illegal activity. We've taken that
approach from Lavine and are using a
similar approach in many areas of the
city where multiple city departments
including OS and the police department
are
needed. And finally, we've been working
with the police department on two
e-learning opportunities. We worked with
the downtown operations unit to provide
input on their camping ordinance
training which was distributed to
officers last month. The training
touched on how to connect people to
services in the field and how to connect
the appropriate OS team member if
needed. We're also working on an
e-learning for all officers that will go
into depth on the office of homeless
solutions what we do and how we can work
with officers in the field um to connect
with us when resources are needed. and I
will now pass the presentation to DC
Ernst to discuss the community
assistance program.
Thank you, Rachel. Mayor and council
members, it's my privilege to be in
front of you today to update you on the
work that's being done by our members in
the community assistance program. Today,
I'll be talking to you about our
staffing, calls transferred from PD
communications to our behavioral health
dispatchers, and an update on our
behavioral health and crisis response um
activities. Today I'm I'm happy to
report that we have met 80% of our um
positions are filled, but the work
continues. In fact, we have six new
specialists joining us later this month
with the first onboarding. We'll also be
um opening up another recruitment for
specialist positions, which are the
individuals in our units that go out and
assist. And that recruitment will start
on April 21st.
To date, we have six behavioral health
units and six crisis response units out
responding to 911 calls. They are
available seven days a week. Um for the
behavioral health units, they're
currently covering 23.5 hours every day
and our hours um vary a little bit more
on our crisis response teams. Just to
give everybody a little reminder of the
difference between the two, the
behavioral health units respond to 911
calls related to mental health um or
individuals that appear to need some
assistance. And our crisis response
teams respond as a co-response with fire
and PD on critical incidents such as
house fires, unexpected deaths, um and
domestic violence and sexual assault
calls.
Our target for our behavioral health
units are to have nine units staffed. We
are focusing on doing that and currently
we're at
67%. Our recruitment is focused on
filling those other three positions or
other three units and we anticipate
having those units up and in service by
the first quarter of u calendar year
2026. In addition, after we've completed
that, we will continue to focus on
getting the additional four crisis
response units staffed and out
responding to 911
calls. We were asked to make sure that
we had 247 coverage of behavioral health
dispatchers by March 31st and we are
happy to report that we were able to
meet that goal. On March 31st, we
established 247 coverage and fire
dispatch of our um supervisors. They are
the ones that take the calls directly
from PD um communications and dispatch
out our behavioral health
units. We're continuing to collaborate
with both police and um police
communications. Uh we conducted or
excuse me community assistance program
the police communications division and
PDCIT division recently reviewed and
revised an e-learning training which is
available to police officers commanders
and other um employees of the police
department through Phoenix. This
training provides an overview of how the
behavioral health response has become a
branch of the 911 system. Ally Edwards
from police communication. Sabrina
Taylor, Detective Sabrina Taylor from
police CIT and Bernie Peralta from our
case work coordinator from um CAP all
participated and were featured in that
training. In the upcoming slides um I
hope to be able to show you the impact
of that training which went out in
March. Also in March I had the privilege
of going before the command staff and in
educating them on the community
assistance program. CAP continues to
work with the community with the Phoenix
Communications Division to identify
calls which can be transferred to BHU
dispatchers in lie of police having to
respond out on non-crime related
calls. This slide represents the calls
transferred for the past two years to
the community assistance program. If you
compare the first three years of 2024
with the first three excuse me the first
three months of 2024 with the first
three months of 2025 we show 170%
increase in the number of dispatched
calls that have been or calls that have
been transferred to our dispatchers. As
you can see March marked our highest
call volume in the past two years and we
attribute that to the e-learning that we
sent
out. This slide represents where our
units are located. In February, we um
established BH1, which um is going to be
set at Cityscape as soon as that um that
location is completely built out.
Currently, it works out of our admin
location close to
downtown. Our behavioral health calls
continue to go to grow. Um, this slide
represents the total numbers of calls
for service that our behavioral health
units respond to monthly. Again, if you
compare the first three months of last
year to this year, we're continuing to
show growth as 133% growth in that time
span.
The
761 calls represents um the total calls
dispatched and it also represents the
calls that were transferred from
PD. This is the first time we're
presenting the type of calls um that our
teams are responding out to and we took
a snapshot of February. So um in
February uh this like sorry as the top
three this represents 89% of our total
call
volume. Um an example of a a call that
the behavioral health teams have gone
out on includes a BHU team was asked to
assist an individual who reported that
he needed help. When the team engaged
with that individual, they learned that
they felt like they were a danger to
themselves. They wanted to get back into
services that they had been disconnected
from. The individual had identified the
agency that they were previously
attached to. Our team was able to
connect with that agency, make
arrangements for us to take him to that
agency that day and get him back into
services. We completed that by doing
what we call a warm handoff. So when we
got to that agency, we we went into that
agency with this individual and we made
sure that the staff knew what that
individual's needs were and that they
were taking um him or that individual in
for for more
services. Again, proud to now also be
able to report um our breakdown of our
responses in in fiscal year 2122. Mayor
and council, you approved $15 million to
support the development of the
behavioral health units. The main
purpose of this unit was to make sure
that the right service was sent at the
right time when a 911 call was made. As
you can see in February, the singular
responses, which means our BHU unit
responded alone on that call and
resolved the issues or the needs of the
individuals alone on that call was at
76%.
However, we still can co-respond with
police and fire. That could look like we
dispatched at the same time with the 911
call or when fire personnel or police
personnel arrive on scene, if they
identify that the individual needs
assistance, they can reach out and ask
for behavioral health team to
come. Moving on now to our crisis
response teams. This U map just is a a
reminder of where they're at. Um, and we
have not had any changes since the last
presentation. Our crisis response teams
continue to experience an increase in
calls as well. Um again, in comparing
the three months, we found a 9% increase
between last year and this year for our
crisis response
teams. For our crisis response teams,
they were developed in 1995 as a
co-response unit with fire initially.
They now co-respond mainly with with
excuse me, now they now co-respond with
both fire and police. the majority of
the calls that they are dispatched to
are related to someone who has passed
away. In this particular case, in
February, 53% of their calls were
related to working with individuals who
had experienced a loss. An example of a
call outside of that, if you look at
occupant services, occupant services is
typically a house fire. One of our
crisis response teams was actually
dispatched out to an apartment fire
where multiple families including adults
and children were being displaced due to
the damage that was done. Our teams were
able to provide that emotional support
that was needed in that moment of trauma
as well as connect them and educate them
to what the services are provided by Red
Cross. We also left them with
information on normal responses to
traumatic incidents as well as what to
do after a fire and how to notify
insurance and all of
that. Again, a snapshot from February
shows that the responses that our crisis
response goes on um singular responses
are very little. They tend to be
follow-up calls or calls where we're
working with individuals that fire has
identified as needing social services um
but not urgent emergent um response. Uh
so the majority of the calls as you can
see are responded to either as
co-response with police alone, fire
alone or with
both. And we are proud to now be able to
report to you um response times. Again,
this is a snapshot from February. Um
these are averages nationally and
working with um the Harvard Kennedy GPL
uh we've identified that most
alternative response programs report
their response times in averages. A
response time starts from the time that
they're dispatched until the time that
they arrive on scene and say that they
are there. Our behavioral health units
in February average 24 minutes and our
crisis response teams average 23
minutes. I should also mention that at
this time there's no national average or
national requirement for alternative
response teams to show up. And with
that, I'd like to um turn the
presentation over to Chief
Sullivan. Mayor, members of council, uh
first I want to take a little bit of
time to thank you for your guidance and
support over the nearly three years that
I've been here. And as I prepare to step
down at the end of the week, I also want
to take a moment to express my deepest
gratitude. The opportunity to serve this
department, this city, and this
community is a privilege that I've never
taken for granted. Throughout my tenure,
we've faced challenges, a lot of
challenges. We faced them head on. And
we've also had the opportunity to
celebrate accomplishments, and we've
celebrated those accomplishments
together. So, Mayor, Vice Mayor, council
members, I've been truly amazed at the
support that you have given my officers
uh and our professional staff every
single day. Uh, and I I make sure that
they know that the the support that you
have given us, uh, close to $600 million
of support over the years to make sure
that we have the tools that we need to
be able to do our job. Thank you.
I want you also to know that I've come
to respect and appreciate my and value
the leadership relationship I have with
city manager Jeff Barton and with
assistant city manager Lorie Bay and
their staff. And you see what staff is
up here. We truly are a team when it
comes to public safety. And it's because
of the leadership that we have in the
city manager's office that that occurs.
That doesn't happen every place.
They allowed me to lead the police
department. They supported me in the
needed changes and decisions that I made
within the department, even when those
decisions weren't
popular. So, under my leadership, this
department has focused on reducing
crime, building community trust, and
continuously improving. I'm proud to say
we are an example of how these policing
principles can coexist.
I want to talk a little bit about some
successes that we've seen. Crime is down
in Phoenix and it has been since the day
I walked in the door, we have nearly
eliminated a massive backlog for
processing of sexual assault kits.
Thanks to this council willing to give
us the resources we need to outsource
those
kits, we have reduced an unsustainable
backlog of public records requests and
we have incr improved the recruiting
process leading to a dramatic increase
in applications for officers. And most
importantly, we started this month the
largest class in over five
years. And we have not just improved our
sworn uh staff hiring, we have also
improved the hiring of our professional
staff. We currently have over 35
individuals in training preparing to
work in our 911 call center, also our
largest class in
years. We also looked at our policies
and procedures and aligned them with the
highest standards in law enforcement.
The revision of the department's use of
force policy and subsequent training
that went along with it will have a
positive impact on officers and the
community well into the future. But
there's still much to
accomplish, but there's no question that
I'm leaving this department in a better
place than it was when I arrived. And
there's nothing that could make me more
proud.
I must say we couldn't have accomplished
all this without the true dedication of
the women and men of the Phoenix Police
Department. They're absolutely
amazing. We also have the support of
residents that we serve every day and
that's matched by few cities and
communities and I have experience in
communities across this country and and
the community support that we have here
is
unparalleled. It was always refreshing
and rewarding to be so welcomed at
community meetings and events that I had
the opportunity to participate in. I
know I am leaving you in good and
capable hands with Chief Dennis Order
during this transition period, but I
truly believe our momentum is
undeniable, our resolve is strong, and
the men and women of who work at the
Phoenix Police Department are the best
at what they do.
So with that, mayor and council members,
thank you for your guidance and support
by approving a series of improvement
initiatives that are allowing us to
improve the service we provide to this
community. I'm proud to say we've taken
multiple steps to advance those
initiatives. And over the next few
minutes, I want to provide you an update
on our progress and future goals. So
let's jump right into what we've done
since the last policy session in
December. Our Professional Standards
Bureau manual is updated now and
provides clear standards for the
thoroughess of
investigations. The Professional
Standards Bureau staff now has explicit
guidance on how to complete
investigations
uh reports and review
evidence. Updates were also made to
ensure all use of force investigations
fully explore whether an officer
considered deescalation strategies
during an incident.
We're proud to say that the PSB manual
now establishes clear deadlines for the
completion of investigative reports.
This update aligns with the peace
officer bill of rights and requires an
explanation for any delays or extensions
to the
investigation. Investigation updates are
to be provided at 30, 60, and 90day
intervals.
The PSB manual also now requires
investigators to review all aspects of
an incident, including those beyond the
scope of the initial complaint. PSB is
now required to provide a written
response to the citizen complaintant
explaining the investigation's findings.
The findings will be sent to their
mailing address or electronically if the
complaintant has provided an email
address.
Another way we've updated our
accountability measures with our PSP
manual is to require the police chief to
explain in writing with city manager
approval anytime there is a downward
deviation from a
recommendation of discipline by the
discipline review board. The chief must
explain why it is in the best interest
of the city to deviate. There's a
standardized form for this process and
the first annual report of these
downward deviations will be delivered to
council by October
2025. And we've also created a clear
policy for when Brady materials are
forwarded to the Maricopa County
Attorney's Office as well, and that's
within 15 calendar
days. Now, I'm excited to talk about the
implea implementation of smart
notifications. This is a program our
community can sign up for uh which
provides responding officers important
information about a resident who lives
at an address before arriving at the
call. Community members can give
information about mental health
concerns, cognitive issues,
communication methods, and other
important
considerations. And residents can sign
up by going to the website at the bottom
of the page on the screen uh right that
you see right now.
Now, if I may, I'd like to take some
time to recognize some individuals from
our organizational integrity bureau who
have been at the forefront of our
continuous improvement efforts. Some of
them are here today. So, I'm going to
ask them to stand if you would please in
the audience.
[Applause]
Now, these folks, they they represent
sworn and professional staff and are
from details such are such as our
continuous improvement unit, the quality
assurance and standards unit, our force
evaluation and review unit, and our
crisis intervention team. They have done
an absolutely incredible job identifying
national best practices and have been
instrumental in assisting us with all of
the improvement
initiatives. So now I'd like to turn it
over to Chief Warner who will walk you
through the initiatives that we have in
progress and those projects uh that we
have planned in the future.
Thank you, Chief, and thank you, mayor,
and members of the council for the
opportunity to provide you with an
update for our inrogress improvement
initiatives. So, we've presented this
slide before, and I just wanted to show
it as a reminder of the continuous
improvement process. As you can see from
the seven-step process, it starts with
reviewing standards of practice and
policy development and continues through
training, implementation, and compliance
before the cycle repeats
itself. As we discuss youth prevention
programming, I want to emphasize the
department's commitment to looking at
least harm solutions when it comes to
our youth and ensuring that we go above
and beyond to have positive interactions
with all the youth in our community.
We continue to explore opportunities for
youth engagement within the community
and we remain committed to our youth
engagement through department's PAL
basketball program, our cadet program,
our wake up program as well as our youth
experiences. Additionally, we are
currently exploring diversion programs
in partnership with Maricopa County
Juvenile Probation with an anticipated
approval this summer.
In May, the police department will be
presenting a proposal for
community-based youth prevention
programming to the public safety and
justice
subcommittee. Understanding that
cultural norms can assist officers in
deescalating tense situations and
enhance officers ability to interact
with the public. We recently launched
our cultural competency training in
February 2025 to recruit class 580.
Going forward, all recruit classes will
receive this training which focuses on
the history, geography, and cultural
considerations and communication
guidance in the American Indian
communities. As for our inservice
personnel, that same training will begin
in quarter 3 2025 when we launch our
40-hour annual
module. With respect to training in the
Professional Standards Bureau or PSB, we
continue to send our investigators and
supervisors to Force Science. This is a
company that focuses on research on
unbiased scientific principles and
processes when officers deal with high
stress and deadly force encounters. In
June 2025, our investigators will begin
attending a 40-hour internal affairs
proficiency training, which will be
facilitated by an outside
vendor. City leadership asked us to
develop a bianial training plan for our
crisis intervention team or CIT
officers. I'm happy to report that an
incentive and deployment model is near
finalization. This is what that training
plan looks like. Our CIT officers will
be required to attend eight hours of
training every other year. Four hours of
which will be mandatory courses and four
hours will be elective courses. And just
as a point of reference, 75% of our CIT
officers were certified over two years
ago. Officers will be required to
complete this professional development
training by September of 2026.
And if I could, I just want to provide
an example of the great work that
happens with our crisis intervention
team officers every day in this city. So
on December 30th this past year,
officers from the CIT squad responded to
a call from a mother who wanted her
adult son to get some help. When they
arrived, they found this subject who was
sitting on the rail of a second story
balcony when he was obviously in crisis.
The officers that were on scene
displayed
compassion, patience, and concern for
this gentleman, and they spoke with him
for over 40 minutes, eventually
connecting with him and getting him to
come off the balcony on his own
accord. We recently posted we connected
him with um mental health services and
we recently posted this uh body warning
camera video on our social media
platforms. And again, this is just one
example of the incredible work that our
officers do each and every day.
We are also enhancing our customer
service by creating curriculums for
standards of public trust and procedural
justice. This training was provided in
the quarter 4 2024 Sergeant School and
departmentwide training is slated for
quarter 3 2025 again with our annual
40-hour module. We recognize that
procedural justice and law enforcement
is critically important in building
trust and legitimacy with our community
members. How we treat people matters
just as much, if not more, than the
outcomes of those interactions that we
have. Council asked us to continually
survey best practices of law enforcement
agencies of similar size and
characteristics, and we remain committed
to doing just that. Our policy review
cadence has been finalized, and
beginning in quarter 2, 2025, all
policies will be reviewed by subject
matter experts and compared to best
practices on a quarterly cycle.
We do believe that best improvements are
driven by data. So with that in mind, we
have created contact data forms for our
officers which will capture a wide range
of information to include age, race,
gender, and housing status. These
revised forms were launched earlier this
month and further revision to the
collection of this data will occur post
launch of the new records management
system in the summer of 2025.
At the bottom of this slide is an
example of the housing status category
and whether or not services were
accepted or denied by an individual that
we contact. This will help us better
collect data on those we interact with,
giving us the ability to make
improvements that are really based upon
facts.
In keeping with our commitment to lead
with services and as mentioned earlier,
we are currently in the process of
training all officers on the best ways
to utilize resources provided by the
community assistance program and the
office of homeless solutions. We are
also adopting policies to allow the
crisis intervention team to prioritize
urgent and time-sensitive matters. And
part of this review is how we facilitate
the hospital to hospital transports for
those in crisis as well as those who
remain under the care of a behavioral
health
clinician. None of this important work
happens without our 911 radio dispatch
team. Therefore, we are prioritizing our
staffing incentives for these employees.
We have increased the starting pay step
for new hires and implemented a $7,500
hiring bonus, which appears to be
working. We've seen our applicant pool
increase since uh creating these
initiatives and we are now focused on
onboarding and training those new
employees. We continue to explore ways
to increase staffing within our
communications bureau and have recently
embedded a staff
member from communications in with our
employment services unit to assist in
the speed of hiring additional
staff. With regard to technology, we are
currently working with a vendor to
implement technology such as voice
activated intelligence for crime stop
calls. Implementation for that
technology is anticipated for fall of
2025. The procurement plan for our newly
our new early intervention system has
been approved and the RFP process should
be complete by quarter quarter 3 2025.
This system will improve accountability
and will better assist us in identifying
early warning signs of behavior that
could lead to misconduct, thus allowing
supervisors to intervene before a more
serious incident
occurs. We now have a dedicated hotline
ready for reporting misconduct and
commendations through our 311 system.
And in just a few moments, the Office of
Accountability and Transparency Director
Shannon Yuani will discuss the
implementation of a new complaint and
comment commendation intake
software. We recognize that oversight is
crucial to our accountability efforts
and as Chief Sullivan mentioned earlier,
several updates are being made to the
PsB manual. One of those updates was for
investigators to provide a thorough and
complete analysis and rationale for
investigative
findings. In December, council directed
us to create inspection sergeant
positions in all precincts and bureaus.
I'm happy to report the lieutenant and
three of those sergeants are in place
now, and the remaining seven sergeants
will be in place in
June. These positions will be
advantageous to the patrol supervisors
as it will relieve them of many
administrative duties, allowing those
patrol supervisors to spend more time on
the street with their patrol personnel.
We promised to update city council and
the civilian review board on public
safety reforms every three months for
the next three years. Today is the
second update to council since making
that
commitment. Since Oat and CRB's
inception, we have worked to attend
their meetings and provide trainings to
their staff. Our staff attended the CRB
meeting that was held on February 28th
and we provided a brief highle update on
our improvement initiatives.
The O director will provide additional
information on that date that update in
the following
presentation. We were also asked to give
a similar update to council on the CRB
on compliance with OAT recommendations
every six months. The OAT director will
provide an update on those
recommendations in the following
presentation as
well. To better involve community in our
oversight initiatives, we have now added
an additional civilian for a total of
three to our discipline review board.
This implementation will occur at any
future DRB
hearings. Our goal in every encounter is
to protect the community and our
employees to bring incidents to a
peaceful resolution. Our updated use of
force policy went active since the last
time we presented at December's policy
session. And this roll out was preceded
by a full two-day in-person training on
the policy for all employees that are in
enforcement roles. We also published an
e-learning video for the same staff in
the weeks leading up to the activation
of that policy. And that video included
updates related to strikes to the head
and face, inappropriate or what we call
shock language, mandatory force reviews
on restrained persons, and weapon
retention
techniques. As I mentioned, that new
policy went live on February 18th.
We are currently training our critical
incident response team or cert which is
comprised of personnel from the force
evaluation and review unit and the
professional standards bureau. Baroo
personnel are trained as force experts
and has been active since March of 2025.
That team co-responds to force related
critical incidents and we've also
completed the draft of our public facing
K9 policy and that will go out for
public comment next month.
The framework for compliance with our
use of force policy involves
scorecarding and the scorecards have
been developed for both use of force
incidents as well as bodywn camera
reviews. A formal meeting structure
structure to discuss the data has been
approved and we are currently revising
the transparency dashboards which will
outline the data we receive from these
scorecards.
As a department and city, we recognize
and are sensitive to the complex
challenges for individuals experiencing
homelessness. As for projects involving
the treatment of people experiencing
homelessness, we indicated to council
that PD would be adopting the office of
homeless solutions policy on unattended
property. This has evolved into the
interacting with individuals exper
experiencing homelessness policy in
collaboration with OS. And this policy
will be available for public comment in
July
2025. We have also completed an update
to our existing policy on seized and
impounded property and that entire
policy will be ready for review by
quarter 3
2025. We are also adding a supervisor
review component which will be
implemented with the new records
management system launch in June.
Constitutional policing is critical to
ensuring our officers are respecting and
protecting people's civil rights while
maintaining public safety. A mandatory
constitutional policing training related
to search and seizure has been completed
by all employees in enforcement
rules. This training was delivered as
part of the 20-hour in-person use of
force training and was completed in
January 2025.
We are currently completing a compliance
framework for vehicle and pedestrian
stops and I think it's important to note
that the current way that we analyze
this data right now is it involves three
different systems. However, we have
developed a more expedient and accurate
solution and these new data capture
forms will be implemented post records
management launch which is estimated for
quarter 4 2025.
We are making significant progress in
our first amendment project. We want to
ensure our employees understand the
importance of respecting and protecting
all community members first amendment
rights. A few months back we sent a
draft of our first amendment
facilitation and management policy out
for public comment and we have since
incorporated some of that feedback into
the policy.
We are currently developing training for
all personnel and we are in the process
of developing specialized training and
public safety response team for all
patrol lieutenants to ensure they know
their role in unplanned or planned
events. We anticipate this policy will
launch this summer and along with that
we plan to develop a one-stop shop web
page where community members will have
the appropriate links to apply for
permits that involve special
events. As for our behavioral health
project, we have completed training for
all communication staff on call
diversion to the community assistance
program and other mobile teams. This
training was completed in March of
2025. We are also currently uh building
a robust CIT deployment model which
analyzes staffing data to ensure that
all precincts are properly covered and
it provides incentives for officers to
become CIT certified and remain CIT
certified. We plan to launch a pilot
program for the incentive model in late
summer of 2025 and we will focus on the
precincts and the shifts with the
greatest need for CIT
officers. The police department
recognizes the importance of
interactions with youth and the impact
that we can have on their development.
At council's direction, we are also
creating a youth interactions policy. We
are currently distributing surveys to
youth and adults and that feedback will
be useful in finalizing the language in
this new policy. The QR code that you
see here on the screen will take you
directly to that survey and once those
surveys are completed and returned, we
will ensure the draft policy is
available for public
comment. The police department is also
developing a partnership with OAT in
their youth outreach program.
The police department worked with OAT
and city law to revise the memorandum of
understanding to ensure that we are
aligned and complying with Phoenix city
code and the peace officer bill of
rights. The O director will provide an
update on that in just a few
moments. Ensuring officers are only
utilizing force that is necessary,
reasonable, and proportional based upon
the totality of the circumstances. We
updated our discipline policies to
reflect the changes from our new use of
force policy.
Additional draft policies regarding
discipline and systems of accountability
will also be available for public
comment in September
2025. So now I'd like to turn to some of
the upcoming projects that we will be
working
on. An upcoming project related to
oversight will be to regularly audit a
sample of police reports to ensure that
officers are correctly applying the
Fourth Amendment. Thanks to the
council's approval, a compliance team
will be hired in June and audits will
commence in July 2025 post RMS launch
with a regular cadence in operation next
fall. Council directed us to explore
areas where civilian staff could provide
services that sworn staff has
traditionally handled. We've made some
progress across the department in this
area and we will begin reviewing
additional roles in precincts and
specialty units later this year. And
this will also include a cost analysis.
This initiative also builds upon the ASU
calls for service
study. Policies will be created in
relation to interactions, use of force,
consensual contacts and interviews, and
interrogations with vulnerable persons
in 2025 2026. Policies relating to
interactions with persons experiencing
crisis, juvenile procedures, physically
impaired persons, and interviews and
interrogations will be reviewed. And we
also plan to have the revised contact
form available in the new records
management system this summer.
So earlier we mentioned our commitment
to adopt clear standards and
accountability measures for PSB
investigators and supervisors to ensure
that all potential law and policy
violations are fully
investigated. Those accountability
standards and measures will be
strengthened in September 2025 through
our systems of accountability project.
And soon we will implement a software
which will allow PSB to collect and
record all citizen complaints to include
the nature of the complaint and the
precinct and the officers
involved. So this slide is just a recap
of some of the upcoming opportunities
for community feedback related to some
of our newer policies. Next month, our
public facing K9 policy will go out for
public comment. And in July, the public
will be able to provide feedback on our
interacting with individuals
experiencing homelessness policy. And
then in late summer, fall 2025, the
youth interactions and the systems of
accountability policies will be
available for public
comment. And the protocol for this
process will include a 30-day period for
public comment as well as a regular
cadence of social media outreach. And at
this time, I will turn it over to the
director of accountability and
transparency, Shannon Johani. And
congratulations, Shannon.
Uh before we go to the next part,
Councilman Pastor has a question. I have
a question about the K9 policy. What is
that?
Mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Pastor, that is going to be
a policy that we want uh to show to the
public that talks about the types of
canines that we have. It talks about the
um types of facilities and care for the
canine um and when we use certain
canines in certain situations. So, it's
a public facing policy um to let the
public know this is this is the types of
canines that we have, how they're to be
used. No specific tactics, but just so
everybody understands, we have um
facility canines, we have um service
canines, we have drug canines. Um, so
things of that nature. So the public is
aware of that. Okay. So what I'm hearing
is there's a policy uh regarding the
different purposes of the K9 of the use.
I guess I would say used, but um what
their purpose is and what what they're
supposed to be doing and what when
they're used also. Mayor, members of the
council, Councilwoman Pastor, that is
correct. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Good afternoon, mayor,
members of council, and members of the
public. Each time I'm here, despite the
nerves, I'm genuinely excited to share
with you about the growth and progress
at the Office of Accountability and
Transparency. I am profoundly grateful
to continue serving Phoenix, which is my
community, and to continue leading a
talented team of dedicated folks who are
committed to Oat's mission and the
Phoenix community. On behalf of that
team, I also want to thank mayor and
council and share our gratitude for the
support and investment of all of you in
Oat's work, our connection to the
community, and in the work that we will
continue to do in and for the
communities we are all here to serve. As
the past 14 months have progressed, the
OT team has solidified our work. The
team has consistently excelled at
defining, refining, and demonstrating
our five Rs: reach, review, report,
resolve, and repair. The team has
engaged with thousands upon thousands of
community members at events and
communicated compassionately with those
who have concerns about the department.
We are currently reviewing 138
department administrative investigations
and have published 22 reports. We have
conducted four department mediations at
the department level uh police community
mediations, excuse me, with the
framework underway for individual
officer community member mediations.
Before I move to what I've been asked to
present about today, I want to share a
little bit about one of our mediations,
one that I fortunately was able to
observe. received a complaint from a
community member who had overheard an
officer speaking negatively about him
and other members of the public who the
officer had cited while the community
member was waiting in court for a
hearing on his ticket. The community
member acknowledged that he was
responsible for the ticket. However, he
did not think that the officer's conduct
and comments was appropriate. He also
importantly did not want the individual
officer to be singled out and addressed
directly about the conduct. He felt it
was a larger systemic issue with the
department.
He did want the department to be aware
of the impact of comments like those on
public perceptions of police and that he
overall had a positive perception about
police. The department design
acknowledged that this behavior was not
appropriate and also thank the community
member for his willingness to bring it
to their attention and to give the
department an opportunity to address it.
Though oat mediation does not require
any side to agree to any actions or
outcomes, the department initiated a
series of steps to address
professionalism at a larger level and to
re-educate officers responding at events
on best enforcement practices. The
committee member was thankful and
appreciated the department's willingness
to both listen to and address his
concerns respectfully. The department
appreciated the opportunity to
communicate about community concerns in
a deescalated setting where resolution
was the goal. The department designs and
community member also connected over a
love of classic cars, reinforcing the
importance of human and personal
connection to humanize members of the
community as well as members of the
department. These positive perceptions
and takeaways have been across the board
for all participants in the mediations
to date. We are very excited to expand
our mediations to community police
mediations in Phoenix and we have that
framework underway. This is just one
example of the remarkable work at Oat
and the expansion of OAT's capacity and
reach since I last shared with you. Now
to what I'm specifically here to share
about today. Updates related to the
civilian review board, revisions to the
memorandum of understanding between OAT
and the department, progress on the
centralized hotline, and the
department's compliance with agreed upon
OAT recommendations.
The Civilian Review Board's nine members
were seated in October of 2024. At the
January 2025 meeting, the board elected
John Graham as the board chair and
Michael Rober as the vice chair.
Department representatives, OAT staff,
CMO leadership, and law department
representatives have attended each of
the
meetings. We've held four board meetings
to date. Three of these meetings have
provided necessary foundations for the
board to do their work. We've covered
the O ordinance, Phoenix City Code
Chapter 20, Arizona Revised Statute
Section
38117 that preempted the city ordinance,
professional standards bureau processes
and procedures, the force evaluation
review unit, peace officer bill of
rights, and constitutional principles in
criminal law. The board has been
enthusiastically engaged throughout the
trainings which have been a joint effort
between the department and oat. The
final training meeting will be Friday,
April 25th, where the board will board
will hear from the department about
operations order 1.5, the department's
new use of force policy. That will be
followed by a mock board meeting using
the first two oat reports and department
responses to give the board the
opportunity to work through cases before
formally hearing oat reports and making
findings. The board will hold their
first formal board business meeting on
Friday, May 23rd, 2025 in the Phoenix
City Hall assembly rooms. At the May
meeting, the board will begin their
charge to review out reports and
recommendations and department
responses. The board will issue findings
on calendared reports and
recommendations. There are five findings
the board can issue after their review.
Adopt, adopt with revisions, decline,
decline with revisions, and additional
information required. Oat staff will
forward all board findings to the police
chief and the city manager after each
meeting.
Oat the department and law have worked
over the past five months to review and
revise the memorandum of understanding
that was initially signed in April of
2023 revisions were necessary as the
initialou was drafted before oats in the
department's working relationship as
well as information sharing processes
had truly begun by building on the
lessons learned the working
relationships developed and with an
understanding of each department's
business processes oat and ppd now have
anou that provides needed structure and
expectations ations to ensure both OAT
and PPD are able to meet the ordinance
mandates. A few highlights include
specifying a no more than 72-hour notice
requirement from the department to oat
for incidents under OAT's mandatory
authority detailed in Phoenix City Code
sections 20-6 as well as a 72-hour
notice time frame for OAT to inform the
department that it will review an
administrative investigation.
The revised also details methods and
time frames for documentation and
information sharing from the department
to oat and theou now includes sections
on both mediation and the civilian
review board. With the evolution of oats
work and the development of
relationships with the department, theou
revision has memorialized the progress
and processes over the last two
years to address the mayor and council
mandate from se September 2024 in
collaboration with CMO 311 and the
department. We have begun the process of
implementing a single online portal for
community members to file complaints and
commendations about the department. Oat
and PSB will have full access to all
complaints and commendations filed
through the portal and we'll be able to
share information as well as review
audit trails to see what work each
department has completed on portal
cases. Additionally, complaints and
commendations filed through the portal
will provide a tracking number for
members of the public who file via
portal to check the status of their
complaint or commendation.
The soft launch for the online portal is
anticipated for late May, early June
2025. We continue to work on a
centralized phone line for the
department's complaints and
commendations to be
received. The department's compliance
with OAT
recommendations has been significant.
Oat has made 19 independent
recommendations across 22 reports. Some
recommendations carry across multiple
reports due to the timing of the report
release and implementation dates. The
department agreed with 16 of those 19
recommendations. One recommendation was
in our recently released March reports
and the department's response is not due
until April 19th. To date, the
department has implemented or updated
manuals or operations orders for all
agreed upon recommendations. The
department's disagreement with oat
recommendations was isolated to two
reports and were factsp specific.
For three of the 16 recommendations
which span multiple investigations and
their related OAT reports, OAT has cons
has seen documented and evidence
compliance with these recommendations.
One, identify the source of allegations.
Two, provide excuse me, provide written
analysis and support of findings and
three actual training completed.
The first was an important change as it
allows oat and therefore the public to
see when department investigations are
initiated by external sources of concern
or by the department recognition of
potentially problematic conduct.
Consistent with being a self assessing
and self-correcting agency, it is
critical that the department show that
it recognizes problematic conduct and
takes the necessary steps to investigate
it. As for the second, this change
provides that critical transparency or
sight into department decision-making
and analysis consistent with other mayor
and council mandates. This
recommendation ensures that even if
there is disagreement with the outcomes
investigations or critical incident
review board recommendations or
executive leadership downward
deviations, there is sight into how the
decision was reached, which is a
critical component of procedural
fairness. And the third involved
aligning what was ordered for training
with the actual training completed by
the officer. This ensures that officers
get needed training to improve responses
and reinforce policy and that the
department is consistent in application
and enforcement of training
requirements. The department has
modified operations orders and PSB
manuals to embed the changes in their
documented policies and procedures. For
all additional agreed upon OAT
recommendations, OAT has not yet
completed a review of factually similar
incidents to verify that the changes to
operations orders or manuals have
resulted in the recommended
improvements. Oat will continue to
review investigations to ensure that the
implemented revisions meaningfully
result in improved investigations,
accountability, and transparency. The
additional recommendations include
interview officer regarding every
allegation, meaningfully explore
officer's consideration of deescalation
strategies, conduct a full-scale
professional standards viewer
investigation, conduct a follow-up of
the involved officer, excuse me, a
follow-up interview of the involved
officer, conduct a complete review of
all available evidence. Refer incidents
of similar severity to the critical
incident review board. Elicit answers
from the involved officers about law,
policy, and training. Provide written
analysis and conclusions in support of
investigative findings. And this applies
to both the professional standards
bureau, the police chief, as well as the
civil critical incident review board.
Include and address all strikes, jabs,
and uses of a firearm as an improvised
impact weapon. Include all potential
policies implicated by the involved
officer's actions.
Articulate and document criteria for
determining whether a death occurred in
custody and resulted from officer
conduct. Maintain incustody death
designation for all investigations.
Explore officers understanding and
response to individuals with mental
illness and review the conduct of all
officers who use or threaten use of
force.
OD is currently reviewing 138 department
administrative cases with 22 reports
published. Reports will now release
monthly starting in March of 2025. The
civilian review board will review oat
reports and department responses
approximately two months after OAT
report
release. The next batch of OT reports
were released Thursday, April 24th. The
civilian review board will hear the oat
reports and department responses
approximately 60 days after
publication. All oat reports will now
reflect the department response due date
as well as the date that each case will
be heard by the board. As oat the
department and the civilian review board
work through the oat recommendations and
department responses. We will continue
to track and report on the status of oat
recommendations as well as any recommend
additional recommendations that may come
from the board.
Members of the community can reach out
by phone, email, or in person at the OD
office at 350 West Jefferson. We have
monitors or reviewers available Monday
through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm to
receive complaints or commendations in
person or by phone. Members can also
leave a voicemail or send an email and
we will respond during those business
hours. Members of our monitor and
community engagement teams are here
today to assist any members of the
public who wish to file a complaint or
commendation or would like more
information about oat. Thank you for the
continued opportunities to share about
Oat and the great work that this team is
doing.
Thank you. Thank you all for the really
informative presentations. Covered a lot
of information. We'll next go to council
member comments and questions and then
I'll turn to the city manager for a
concluding statement and recognition and
then we do have uh public comment.
Council
members. All right. I will turn to the
city manager. Mayor, members, and
council. Thank you. Um, it was important
to me that I defer my comments about
Chief Sullivan until the end because I
thought it was important for him to
begin his last presentation and his last
policy session with praise on both ends
of of the spectrum. I also thought it
was really important for you to get to
see his commitment um on even as he
exits the department to this job and
this profession and to this city and you
saw that throughout this presentation. I
also thought it was really important for
us to be able as a team, as the chief
talked about, to be able to demonstrate
that change is inevitable. It's
happening. This council wants it. Our
community wants it, and our chief, Chief
Sullivan, has set this department up for
success moving forward with his
framework and his commitment to to that
continuous improvement. Me as an auditor
loves those words when he talks about
self- assessing, self-correcting because
that is the definition of continuous
improvement. But chief, you know, in the
military, the Congressional Medal of
Honor is is awarded for courage under
fire and and being the bravest of the
brave. And I think if I were to describe
you with one word, it would be
fortitude. You've demonstrated courage
under fire, courage and adversity. And
over the last three years, you've
consistently thrown yourself in harm's
way for the betterment of all. And I
want to thank you personally. I want to
thank your family for demonstrating that
collective selflessness. So, thank you.
Thank you. Well said, Councilwoman
Huntington.
Now I feel bad asking questions after
the accolades for the chief, but I just
wanted to start off by saying I know
that the council did provide very very
what I think was very aggressive goals
in order to what we were asking from our
departments and I think you guys have
rose to the occasion. So I wanted to
start off by saying thank you for all of
the effort that you have done in order
to make these recommendations come to
fruition. I just had a couple of
questions and comments um more so for um
clarity and clarification.
Um I want to start off with OHS. I
wanted to um just get some opportunity
just some clarification on the capacity
of the 10 projects. We have we said
about 1,200 beds. Can you tell us where
we kind of stand from a capacity
situation standpoint? Sure. So uh mayor
and members of the council so the 10
projects that we've uh created over the
last three years created or expanded um
increase our capacity in our system by
1,200.
Prior to this three years and these 10
projects, we had a good amount of
capacity within the city of Phoenix of
about 1,400. So almost doubled uh that
capacity. And then additionally, we have
the 300 spaces at the safe outdoor space
as well. And of those um 1,200
additional beds that we have put into
put into the work into the flow, can you
tell us about how many of them are
currently occupied at this point? Sure.
Mayor and member members of the council.
So when we bring a project on board, um
we uh we fill to capacity um quickly. So
as many beds as we open um sometimes
that happens um over several months so
as not to uh inundate staff um but
they're f filled. So for example, our
last project to open is the Phoenix
Navigation Center. We're offering three
to five beds a day and those are filled
as well. So we anticipate to be at full
capacity within the next month. Thank
you so much. Um, I just had another
question for you regarding the safe
outdoor space. It's my understanding,
and this is your world, not mine, that
it is generally a high acuity
population. They tend to be a little
harder when it comes for placement. And
I see here that the success rate from
those um through the safe outdoor space
is about 15%. Can you tell us whether or
not from my uh perception that seems
like a positive, but can you tell us a
little bit more? Yes, mayor and members
of the council, excellent question. So
yes, um typically our our uh guests at
the safe outdoor space might have um a
little bit higher acuity and so again
the the real goal for folks at the safe
outdoor space is to move into indoor
locations. So whereas we we have a
little lower um exit um positive exit
rate from the safe outdoor space as we
would our our typical shelters. um we do
see that as very positive um moving
someone from that space into an indoor
space where they have additional
services to eventually move into a
housed situation. Thank you so much for
that clarification. Um I move on to you
uh for community assistance program. Um
this is actually something that I'm um
not that I don't appreciate all of the
other reforms but I was very happy to
hear where we are when it comes to staff
in that project. I think many
individuals um agree that when it comes
to behavioral health um issues that
maybe law enforcement isn't the best
person to deal with it. And for me when
I saw that the goal was met in slide 22
and to me slide 24 and 26 tells a
success that we're shifting more and
more of these behavioral health calls
from PD to those that are better suited
for those. I'm cur I'm just a little
more curious to see to hear whether or
not individuals who have had um
interaction with our behavioral health
team or our crisis response units, do we
find that they follow up with the those
units after the emergency or after the
initial interaction or is it more just a
one-time type of um interaction?
Mayor and council members, thank you for
the question. um it's typically a
onetime um once we get them into the
services. Now we may have multiple
interactions with individuals as we
build the trust to have them um agree to
go and get services but typically once
we connect them to the services we do
not have further contact.
Thank you so much. Uh my next question
is is for either Chief Sullivan or Chief
Warren. Um I again I want to echo my
comments regarding the I think we're
making great strides towards the reforms
that have been requested um from the
recommended as well from council. Uh for
those that are concerned that we have
been changing our policy and act and
requiring training. um how do we ensure
that the policy changes and the actual
training, how do we evidence that into
change behaviors in the area that we are
looking to effectually change and what
are the uh measures that we're using to
ensure that those behavioral changes are
being um
seen. So, mayor, members of the council,
councilwoman uh Haj Washington, it's a
great question, and I think that's
something that we have probably lacked
in the past, but uh thanks to Chief
Sullivan's guidance and support, um some
of the areas that we are going to look
at, we're going to be doing those audits
to make sure that we are complying with
the training that we provide, we have to
make sure that we are doing what we say
uh and showing that we are doing what we
say we're going to do. So there'll be uh
some compliance uh checks u thanks to
council's um recommendation and support.
We've got the uh the research analysts
that will be doing compliance audits on
specific areas of the training that
we've provided.
Thank you. And then Shannon, I won't
want you to feel left out. I do have a
question for you as well. um when it
comes to our office of accountability
and transparency, it is one of the steps
that many in our community felt was um
very needed and timely and I'm grateful
to say I see a lot of your staff out at
community events spreading the word and
getting people to understand that this
is an avenue to submit both complaints
and commendations. Um I see that you you
mentioned you have 138 investigative um
sorry document sorry department
investigative cases administrative cases
are currently pending and I see that you
have the civilian review board set in
place. I presume there will be continual
training to those individuals to ensure
that they keep a breast. Can you tell me
more about the continuing training
opportunities?
Mayor members of council councilwoman
Haj Washington. Yes, there will be
ongoing training. So in addition to the
foundational training we provided which
were also recorded. So if uh members
missed or we have new members to the
board we'll be able to have them undergo
those trainings there will be ongoing
training for case specific issues or
anytime the board has questions about a
particular thing that comes up. As uh I
know council is certainly aware
particularly in this area we have lots
of acronyms. It's we have lots of ideas
or lots of concepts. Almost every single
case that we review is factually
different in some regard. And so as we
continue to go through uh one of the
things we've talked about, for example,
is a K9 case. If there's an issue where
there's a K9 deployment or an incident
with a K9 deployment, in advance of them
reviewing the documentation for that, we
would have a presentation about um the
tactical support bureau uh and how they
deploy can kines, what the policies and
procedures are around that. So there
will be both case specific as well as
general training to enhance them. Um
they also will be able and the
department has made it available for
them to attend trainings at the academy.
So, we have some folks that have already
signed up to attend the ABLE training,
which is the active bystandership in law
enforcement. Um, they'll be able to
attend IAT trainings or other trainings
the department has. We think those are
really critical. Uh, all of our review
team will attend those trainings as
well. We've also had our review team go
through the force science training uh
that Chief Warren discussed and we will
make all of those same things available
to the civilian review board so that
they also understand as our review team
does uh how this department and how
these particular officers are trained.
um about the PSB training. Uh our team
is also attending the PSB training and
the foundational training that's
happening in May. Um we'll also be
taking seats at the training that's
happening in June and we'll make those
available to the civilian review board
as well. Thank you so much. Thank you
again for an excellent presentation.
Thank you for the diligence and the um
dedication to moving these
recommendations forward and for the
benefit of the citizens of Phoenix.
Thank you, Mayor. Those are my
questions.
Thank you, Councilman Glendel Vera.
Thank you, Mayor. Um, thank you all for
your very comprehensive presentation. It
was lengthy, but it deserved to be
lengthy because there was a lot that we
requested and I'm glad to see a lot of
it was accomplished. Um, one of my uh
concerns and one of my issues has been
behavioral health and mental health
services and specifically on slide 28 on
the behavioral health unit response
breakdown. I think that's really a
moment to celebrate when you look at 376
responses or 76% are being done by this
unit that's great because I agree with
my colleague Kisha Haj Washington that
police perhaps are not the best to
deliver behavioral health services but
when we have dedicated professionals
doing it and we know that the numbers
are showing it and I'm sure they're
going to increase that's something to
celebrate and to continue. So, thank you
for the work that's being done on that
and for meeting the goal that had been
set
out. And on
uh regarding uh slide 48 on the crisis
intervention officers, I am very happy
to see the training is being taken
seriously. I had a chance early on to
meet with one of the the the unit, one
of the squads, and their work
specifically as it relates to um calls
dealing with suicide is phenomenal. And
the level of professionalism and care
that they take um really um lifts me
again because um behavioral health is
being done by the right individuals so
that we can have a better outcome of
very um bad
situations. I want to get
to ah slide 58 regarding the discipline
review board. I am very pleased to see
that that will be um handled and that we
are going to have another civilian
participating on this review board. That
was one of the items that I specifically
um asked to be included and I appreciate
the fact that you did respond and that
it is being taken care of. And then on
slide 65 regarding first amendment
policy, I have a question either um
Chief Orander or Chief Sullivan um to
respond dealing with now that we've seen
um that there have been numerous um
marches and
protests. How has this policy worked
out?
Um did it meet the needs that you
thought it would when it was being
written and now that it's being
implemented? Can you speak to that?
Mayor, members of the council,
Councilman Glenda, it has been very
successful in my opinion. We haven't
seen any uh major arrests or any um uh
mass arrests, I would say. Um we've been
very fortunate in that our our folks are
doing exactly what we asked them to do
is we want to engage with these uh folks
that want
to go out and exercise their first
amendment rights. So, as you know, our
policy is to always engage with them
first and let them know this is what you
can do. We will help you. We want to
protect your First Amendment rights. U
but from from what I've seen so far,
this policy was going to be coming out
next month, but what I've seen so far
from the training that we've provided,
it's been very successful.
I uh uh there was a recent um uh event
down at the state capital involving
close to 4,000 individuals who then left
there and marched down Jefferson. um no
arrests and I know that beforehand many
of the organizers met with Phoenix PD to
ensure the security of individuals and
that everyone followed the the the
planned outcome of that march. So, I'm
I'm really pleased to see that you all
are taking this seriously because we
want to ensure that people ha can
exercise their first amendment right in
this in uh Phoenix and and still it be
peaceful and and have their point come
across. Um because after all, we we're
still a
democracy right now.
Councilwoman Pastor, I just have a
question on that one slide.
Um, this first amendment slide. Okay.
There will be another march that is
being organized and it's
Mayday. So, I'm not sure if the
organizers I'm kind of I'm part of it.
But my question is
really I guess my question is what is
the process?
So mayor, members of the council,
Councilwoman Pastor, uh we would love to
have a conversation with the organizer.
Okay. Um but our our process is that our
um community engagement bureau personnel
uh will engage with that organizer, kind
of explain to them and help them um go
out and exercise their first amendment
rights in a safe in a safe manner. We
just want everybody to be safe. We want
to protect what they're out there to do.
Um so our community engagement bureau
folks would like to contact the
organizer. Um we'll have a conversation
with them and make sure that they have a
peaceful event. That's I think that's
the end goal for for us and the end goal
for the organizers as well. Okay. Then
I'll pull that meeting rapidly together.
Thank you.
Councilman Wearing.
Thank you. If I don't mind, I'll pivot
back to Rachel on page seven. Uh slide
14. I recognize this is just a subset of
the work that you do, but it talks about
1485 people served. We've talked about
this issue before. It's fantastic to
count like how many people are coming
through the facility or or in the
facility, but obviously the goal is not
to have them come back, to have them
have jobs and houses that aren't
temporary housing built by the city. Um,
in a different venue earlier, you had
talked about not here, you had talked
about how when the heat rises, there's a
lot more interest in
services, which makes perfect sense, of
course, but but also that's again that's
sort of seems temporary. If it's just
driven by the heat, that kind of implies
when it gets cool, people are going to
go back to living the lifestyle that's
that's frankly not good for them and
problematic for the rest of us. So, are
we doing anything to track like not just
it's not just success to say 1485 people
and I'm not saying you're necessarily
claiming that with the slide like how
many of these people or any of the folks
that you
serve go on to flourish, go on to have a
job? Do we do we have any way of knowing
that? Mayor, members of the council,
Councilman Wearing, yes, we absolutely
track in each one of our um projects
through our homeless management
information system the people who are
still there, who have exited, and then
we are able to track their um returns to
homelessness or non- returnturns to
homelessness for years after they've
left. So, uh, Mayor Rachel, so as a
percentage of people you
serve, like I guess from what you just
said, you have a number, a percent of
success stories, mayor, members of
council. So, yes, on a project by
project basis, I could get that for you.
I don't have one overall though today
with me. No, I'm so disappointed in you,
Rachel. I was expecting you to have that
committed to memory. But if you could
have that for future like I think that's
something we're
investing dump truck full of money in
this uh rightfully so assuming that
we're getting results and the public I
know interest groups have asked like
you're spending a lot of money on this
guys like what what are we getting out
of this? So that's a number that I would
think would be front and center in any
frankly discussion of of what we're
doing here. or so. I would like to see
those numbers. Um, if you haven't brok
them down by project, that's fantastic.
And then an overall number, people
served, and you know, this is what we're
saying. Do you have a ballpark of is it
20%, 30%, any general idea? Um, mayor,
members of the council, I've been uh
told by our city manager not to do
public math. So, I'd like to get back to
you on those percentages. Um,
but Rachel, it's entertaining for the
rest of us. You don't understand. That's
half the fun. Um I will say all of our
projects sweat like I don't know where's
my calculator. Um uh Councilman Wearing,
so projects from uh the the effort that
we had outside the campus, we've been
tracking sort of where those people are
who we placed in in shelter and other
services. So we know exactly how many
are now housed, how many are still in
shelter, how many have returned to
homelessness, and then some that have
are no longer in the homeless management
information system. We also have that
same information for say our Washington
shelter and then some of our newer
projects the information isn't as good.
Um obviously the uh Phoenix Navigation
Center just opened last July. Um but we
have we have we are able to track all of
that information. So I'm happy to share
it with you. Maybe I don't want to
overstep. You know Kevin Robinson he's
dictatorial. he rules with an iron fist
in public safety. But perhaps we could
uh get that information at a future
public safety committee meeting because
I assume we're not doing this, you know,
next month, too. So, but that might be
an appropriate venue. If you could,
that'd be awesome. Absolutely. I won't
do public math either, but we we can get
that done. Thank you,
Councilman Glendo Alivera. Mayor, before
we move on to public comment, I do want
to take the opportunity as a point of
privilege to welcome Councilwoman
electz and wish her the best of luck and
uh and I know that she will do well to
represent the fine families and
hardworking men and women in uh of
district 7. So,
Uh, thank you. We will now go to public
comment. Angel.
Hello. Good afternoon, members of the
council. Uh, my name is uh Dr. Angel
Algarand and I'm a public health
researcher, a resident of District 4,
and a proud active player in the Phoenix
Out Loud Sports Kickball League. I'm
here today to speak on agenda item one
and to acknowledge the meaningful work
the city has undertaken in advancing
public safety reforms particularly those
aimed at improving interactions between
law enforcement and uh the communities
they serve. Um as I you probably tell I
have this all written and prepared but
it was I' I've learned a lot today in
today's meeting so really happy to
attend. However, I'm also here to share
a serious concern about an incident that
occurred this past Sunday afternoon. one
that highlights an urgent gap in how
public safety is implemented across city
departments. This incident directly
impacted members of the LGBTQ plus
community and reflects poorly on our
city's values and
reputation. During the Out Loud Sports
Sagguaro Cup tournament at Encanto Park,
an event that welcomed over 300 LGBTQ
plus athletes and allies from across the
country, the final championship game was
abruptly shut down due to a clerical
permit error. Rather than using
discretion or engaging in a
conversation, a parks and recreation
employee escalated the situation by
calling the Phoenix Police Department.
In response, multiple police crew
cruisers, eight to be exact, drove onto
the field surrounding peaceful players
who were confused, exhausted, and simply
trying to finish a moment of community
and celebration. This overreaction was
damaging for many of the visiting
players. This was their first experience
in Phoenix. Instead of seeing our city
as an inclusive and as and welcoming,
they witnessed overpolicing and
unnecessary
escalation. This impacts more than just
our sense of safety and belonging. It
influences whether Phoenix is chosen for
future LGBTQ plus events and it affects
the small businesses that benefit from
the presence of out of town guests. This
incident makes it clear while much has
been done to improve policing, we must
expand our public safety efforts beyond
law enforcement. Departments like parks
and recreation are often the face of the
city and our public spaces and they must
be equipped with the same tools to
deescalate, communicate effectively and
affirm diverse communities. A lot of
which I heard today. So I respectfully
urge the committee to consider the
following.
Extend LGBT final conclusion.
Yes. Extend LGBTQ plus cultural humility
and deescalation training to all public
facing city departments. Starting with
parks and recreation, develop clear
conflict resolution protocols to prevent
escalation of minor administrative
issues such as perceived permit overages
to law enforcement and include LGBTQ
plus residents in advisory and planning
processes related to public safety,
equity, and access. And Councilwoman
Pestor has been spending an enormous
amount of time on this. Yes, I'd like to
thank you for bringing this to our
attention. Uh, I will be meeting with
the community on Thursday along with
staff at uh 3 PM. So, thank you.
Thank
you. Thank you. Any
additional
comments? All right, Lori, did you want
to do any concluding comment before we
adjourn? No. Thank you, Mayor.
Well said. Well said. Well, thank you.
Super informative. We will be back to
the community in a few months to
continue updates, but a lot of big
milestones. Uh, thank you. We're
adjourned.
The Arizona Department of Transportation
wants this to be a rewarding and safe
experience for all of you. Volunteers
like you make this program successful by
giving your time and energy to make a
positive impact on the environment. Your
efforts are appreciated very much so not
only by ADOT but also by the citizens of
Arizona and the visitors who will enjoy
a cleaner state because of your hard
work. So spread the word. Arizona, keep
it grand.
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