The Phoenix Police Department has been under national scrutiny for years, with a June U.S. Department of Justice report confirming what community activists have long asserted. The DOJ found that Phoenix cops have consistently discriminated against racial minorities and used unnecessary deadly force, among other rampant constitutional violations.
The next Phoenix police chief will be tasked with fixing the department and improving its perception with residents. However, the next chief likely will not have the DOJ to deal with, since there’s little chance that the Trump administration will pursue a consent decree that the Biden administration sought to reform the department.
But if Wednesday’s forum was meant to take the measure of the men aspiring to lead the department through such important issues, it left much to be desired. The forum was public but it was hardly community-driven. The city’s staff filtered down the 340 questions submitted by community members and focused mainly on administrative concerns.
The aspiring chiefs were asked about the department’s shrinking staffing, improving officer mental health and wellbeing and how to minimize bias in policing. More pointed questions were asked of individual candidates, including about sexual harassment allegations and the department’s work with Maricopa County prosecutors to charge protesters as being part of a made-up street gang.
“The questions seemed tailored to the staffing side,” said former state Sen. Anna Hernandez, who will take a seat on the city council next month. Hernandez did note several questions were asked toward the end of the forum that were geared toward more controversial issues.
“I was glad to hear a few questions around the DOJ investigation and the racial aspect of Phoenix police’s patterns,” Hernandez said. “Overall, I think it was kind of what I expected — nothing too standout.”
The candidates’ answers and language were strikingly similar and cautious across the board. That’s no surprise. Police chief in a large department is a highly political position, with multiple constituencies to please: the rank-and-file officers and the police union, the city council, city staff and members of the community.
Councilmember Carlos Galindo-Elvira, who currently holds the seat Hernandez will take over in April, told New Times he was pleased with the candidates’ responses.
“I went there with an open mind, knowing that this is an incredibly important position. I did not walk away disappointed, for two reasons,” Galindo-Elvira said. “All were in agreement that our police department has no role in being an arm for immigration enforcement and that’s the purview of the federal government. Secondly, they were all committed to continuous improvement of our police department in light of the DOJ report.”
Ed Wessing, the assistant chief of training at the Mesa Police Department, drew sexual harassment complaints earlier in his time with the agency.
Kevin Hurley
The candidates
One candidate is familiar to those who have paid attention to Phoenix policing issues. Michael Sullivan has served as “interim” chief for two and a half years, brought in to lead the department after disgraced former Chief Jeri Williams resigned.Sullivan is deeply unpopular with the rank-and-file. A survey released in February by the Phoenix police union showed that only 14% of officers thought the department was moving in the right direction. During the forum, Sullivan said he was “disappointed” by the results. He also noted that he received pushback internally when making changes to the department’s use of force policy.
But Sullivan’s ability to lead the department might be an asset for those who, in light of the DOJ investigation, want to see the department make serious changes.
“Out of all four of them, I think Chief Sullivan was the one who talked the most about reform and community input,” Hernandez said.
The other candidates, whittled down from eight semifinalists earlier this month, are: Casey Johnson, a deputy chief in Oakland, California; Ed DeCastro, the current head of investigations for Phoenix police; and Ed Wessing, the assistant chief of training at the Mesa Police Department.
The DOJ report, and the department’s efforts to institute its own reforms and avoid independent oversight, were top of mind. “There is room for reform,” Wessing said “And I do believe Phoenix is in a position to lead — nationally — in efforts to reform the daily operations of public safety.” Johnson, whose Oakland department has been under independent oversight for his entire 23-year tenure, said, “Being in a prolonged oversight can really damage a police department. It crushes officer morale.
Hernandez said that when it came to “implementing substantive steps of accountability,” all the candidates gave disappointingly vague answers. But she is especially concerned about DeCastro.
“From his responses, sounds like he doesn’t believe the department does anything wrong, which is really concerning if we’re talking about someone who wants to lead this department forward,” Hernandez said. She added that Johnson seemed “a little over his head” and came across as nervous, which “was a little shocking to see.”
Wessing spoke confidently throughout the forum but carries other concerns from his past. According to a 2018 Arizona Republic story, public records showed that three sexual harassment allegations were lodged against Wessing between 2013 and the article’s publication. “Cmdr. Ed Wessing has been accused of making inappropriate comments and inappropriately touching women in the department,” the Republic story noted.
The records relating to those allegations disappeared, according to Diana Williams, then a spokesperson for Mesa police who has since been promoted to command staff. When asked to explain what happened during the forum, Wessing said there had been an investigation into his conduct in 2003, when he was a sergeant.
“I was exonerated of any misconduct of any type of workplace harassment,” Wessing said.
Wessing’s response does not match the Republic’s reporting. Wessing was a sergeant in 2003, but according to his LinkedIn, he was a lieutenant during the period that the Republic said the complaints were filed. Wessing mentioned only one investigation, while the Republic reported three complaints.
Mesa police spokesperson Brandi Myers said the department "only received one formal complaint against then Sergeant Wessing in 2003 for allegations of sexual harassment by another member of the department who was under internal investigation himself and was not the subject of said complaint against Wessing. After a thorough investigation into the allegations, the complaint was not substantiated and Wessing was exonerated."
Whoever wins the title of Phoenix Police Chief will face an uphill battle to rebuild trust with the community.
Kevin Hurley
A troubled department
City Manager Jeff Barton will choose the next chief — though Galindo-Elvira said councilmembers have provided feedback based on their credentials and performance at the forum.Whoever wins the job will take on a department that keeps making bad headlines, even after the DOJ’s report was released. The number of people killed by Phoenix police officers has been climbing in recent years. So far this year, four people have died after a run-in with Phoenix cops, including one who was running away. Phoenix police shot and killed 14 people last year and 12 in 2023, both up from 10 in 2022.
In August, two officers beat Tyron McAlpin, a deaf Black man with cerebral palsy, for doing absolutely nothing. McAlpin was jailed for 24 days. He has since filed a civil rights lawsuit against the department.
Such abuses have tanked trust in police among many Phoenix communities. For the most skeptical residents, it doesn’t matter who takes the reins as police chief.
“They can put anybody there, I don’t care — unless they have an outside agency monitoring them, it’s not gonna change,” said Salvador Reza, a longtime community organizer who crusaded against infamous former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “Why are they so afraid to let an outside agency come in and monitor them? They claim they can monitor themselves — but so far, they haven’t proven it. They keep on killing a lot of people and abusing the citizens in many ways.”
