The man in charge of civilian oversight of the Phoenix Police Department explains how his role has changed from independent investigator to "monitor" in his first year on the job.
ABC15 first sat down with Roger Smith, director of Phoenix's Office of Accountability and Transparency, a year ago. In February 2022, he was new to the Valley and new to the job.
"Right now, I'm an office of one," Smith said in his first interview.
Originally tasked with the ability to conduct investigations independently or in tandem with Phoneix police internal investigators, Smith was to look at officers' use-of-force or allegations of misconduct. He was to make presentations to a civillian police oversight board, which could issue policy or disciplinary recommendations.
Then, a state law signed by Doug Ducey last year severely curtailed who was allowed to investigate police conduct.
In a new interview with ABC15 Wednesday, Smith explained how OAT had to be scaled back, saying, "That will enable us to maintain the civilian nature of this agency."
Today, there is no civilian board, but soon there will be 12 employees working alongside Smith to monitor how Phoenix police conduct their internal investigations. OAT will review all deaths in custody, serious physical injuries in custody, and officer-involved shootings. OAT can also take complaints and monitor other investigations.
"Like stops, frisks, any kind of street encounters," Smith said.
Smith says the first monitoring report will come from a September 2022 police shooting, and OAT will be looking for potential holes or missteps in the current process of investigating in order to make sure the process is more reliable and fair.
"Also instances where investigative findings aren't responsive to the information generated in the course of the investigation," Smith said.
Smith can make recommendations and call out problems in OAT reports, which will be posted publicly.
"We will no longer be leaving these things to the blind trust of the public," Smith said. "We'll be giving the public a way to see this information, to see these things happen, and then be able to make decisions or make evaluations based on the information that they see."
While the scope of work his office can do is limited, Smith is confident it will increase accountability and improve transparency at the Phoenix Police Department
