PHOENIX — Attorneys suing Phoenix in multiple high-profile lawsuits are accusing the city of hiding records and reports from three outside investigations into officers’ actions during the 2020 protests.
The city has also asked to court to block protesters’ attorneys from deposing the people who worked on those probes.
“The results of these investigations are believed to be highly critical of the Phoenix Police Department (“PPD”),” according to a recent motion filed by attorneys collectively representing more than 100 protesters. “The City now seeks a protective order so it can continue to keep these taxpayer-funded reports hidden from these proceedings and the public.”
POLITICALLY CHARGED: ABC15 INVESTIGATES PHOENIX PROTEST CASES
Following multiple scandals with how Phoenix handled the protests in 2020, the city paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a trio of outside reviews: (1) A bifurcated investigation conducted by law firm Ballard Spahr into protesters falsely charged as gang members and a hate-speech inspired police challenge coin celebrating violence against a demonstrator; (2) An analysis of officers’ tactics and techniques by the consulting group 21CP; (3) A review of the city’s protest response by ASU Criminal Justice Professor Ed Maguire.
The court previously ruled that Phoenix had to produce all records related to the Ballard Spahr investigation.
However, the protesters’ attorneys claimed that the city is flooding them with thousands of pages of irrelevant documents and instead withholding key records.
The attorneys are also demanding the city produce the reports from 21CP and ASU.
But Phoenix’s attorneys argue that those reports should not be subject to disclosure because they are outside the scope of the lawsuits and would violate the city’s “deliberative process.”
RELATED: City of Phoenix refusing to release ASU report into police protest response
Phoenix has also refused multiple requests from ABC15 to release the ASU report under state public records law. The city claims the report submitted by Maguire in January 2022 is still a draft and the professor acted outside the scope of their agreement.
The court has not yet ruled on whether the 21CP and ASU reports should be released or if more documents from Ballard Spahr should be disclosed.
But on Monday, a federal magistrate judge denied Phoenix’s request to block protesters’ legal team from deposing Maguire and 21CP.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com and ABC15 Investigator Zach Crenshaw at Zach.Crenshaw@abc15.com.
