PHOENIX — The City of Phoenix is being sued for failing to produce records about elected officials’ communications with the police union about the Department of Justice investigation.
Ken Chapman, a community organizer and police violence activist, filed the lawsuit.
“I don’t think the term public records has any meaning to the City of Phoenix. There is no transparency,” said Steve Benedetto, an attorney representing Chapman. “It takes months and sometimes a year or more to get fairly basic records in response.”
Back in December 2023, Chapman filed a series of public records requests for text messages, emails, and other communications between the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association and city council members and the mayor, according to the lawsuit.
So far, the suit alleges that Phoenix has failed to turn over any responsive records.
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“At some point, enough has to be enough,” Benedetto said. “Someone has to start holding this department accountable.”
The lawsuit laid out the following reasons why Chapman is seeking these records and why it’s critical for the city to release them.
“The DOJ’s report summarizing its investigation (the “DOJ Report”) appears to be one of the most—if not the most—scathing and critical in the history, excoriating Phoenix PD’s training, supervision, self-investigation, and culture in identifying far-reaching and systematic constitutional violations. After years of opposing the investigation, PLEA’s same-day response was prompt and vitriolic: PLEA labeled the DOJ’s efforts an “irresponsible and unprofessional smear campaign,” claimed the investigation was simply an attempted power-grab by the federal government aimed at “enriching” a court-appointed monitor, and called the entire endeavor a “farce.” Faced with perhaps the most critical public safety moment in Phoenix’s history, the City’s communications with those holding such radical views is an issue of grave public concern.”
The City of Phoenix did not immediately respond to a request for comment and often doesn’t publicly discuss active legal cases.
In the lawsuit, Benedetto also highlighted information exposed in a past ABC15 investigation about how the former police chief and her top staff destroyed public records.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
