Title
Office of Accountability and Transparency Updates
Description
This item updates the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee on the Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT). The Mayor and City Council established the Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT) in 2021 to perform independent civilian oversight of the Phoenix Police Department (Police). OAT reviews Police administrative investigations of incidents involving sworn personnel and provides community members a way to freely communicate complaints, commendations, and concerns about officers and the Police Department without fear of retaliation.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
Phoenix City Code, Chapter 20, as amended by City Council on May 15, 2024, states OAT's role is to:
- Take community complaints or commendations,
- Establish procedures for receiving anonymous complaints,
- Conduct outreach with the community,
- Provide support services to impacted community members,
- Review Police Department administrative investigations or civilian employee complaints,
- Make recommendations to the Police Chief regarding policy, rules, and training issues,
- Conduct mediation to resolve disputes,
- Administer a youth outreach program; and,
- Address other issues of concern to the community.
Since February 2024, OAT released 34 reports detailing its review of Police Department investigations and its findings as to the completeness and thoroughness of those reviewed investigations. OAT issued recommendations for future investigations in 24 of the 25 reports, the majority of which the Department has agreed to implement. OAT is actively monitoring 161 cases, a nearly 50 percent increase over this time last year, and continues to add new cases to its review caseload.
OAT’s Community Engagement Team has worked diligently to connect with community and expand OAT’s reach. This three-person team has tabled, attended, or connected with more than 100 community agencies or groups and more than 15,000 community members since we began tracking in July 2024.
In addition to these engagement efforts, the team launched and completed the first run of OAT’s youth outreach program pilot, Reform Rising. The team will evaluate what they learned this semester and pilot again in the spring before scaling up to additional Phoenix high schools in Fall 2026.
OAT’s Mediation Director has completed five department level mediations since February 2024. The Mediation Director has worked diligently and in collaboration with the Police Department to build the processes, procedures, and parameters for individual officer-community member mediation, including reviewing draft operations orders, meeting with union leadership, and collaborating with other City departments including Law and HR.
OAT administers the City Council established Civilian Review Board (CRB). OAT staff developed and implemented a series of robust and detailed trainings to ensure that CRB members have the necessary understandings to engage in reviewing and analyzing OAT’s reports and the Police Department’s responses. The Board has held three formal business meetings to date and in each meeting the Board adopted all OAT findings and recommendations without revision.
Consistent with the mandate to support services to impacted community members, OAT has initiated a partnership with the Family Advocacy Center’s (FAC) Family Liaisons who are dedicated to helping community members impacted by critical incidents. Through this partnership OAT and the FAC’s team will work together to reinforce the need for timely, transparent, and communication and information sharing with community members involved in critical incidents.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Ginger Spencer and the Office of Accountability and Transparency.