PHOENIX — Maricopa County sheriff candidate Tyler Kamp sexually harassed a rookie officer during his final year on the force with the Phoenix Police Department, according to a city investigation obtained by ABC15.
The Phoenix Equal Opportunity Department probe was completed after Kamp retired.
He was never disciplined.
“(Redacted) reported that Lt. Kamp sent sexually harassing text messages to her. The evidence provided by (redacted) corroborated her allegations. Although Lt. Kamp denied sending the messages, (redacted) provided screenshots as part of the investigation,” investigators wrote in their final report’s conclusion.
During an interview with ABC15, Kamp criticized the investigation.
“This wasn't a full investigation,” he said. “It was not a complete investigation… I think the text messages you’re referring to are completely taken out of context.”
ABC15 obtained the city investigation through a public records request.
As part of the request, the city also provided documents that included a transcript of an interview with Kamp and screenshots from hundreds of text messages sent between him and the officer, who was in training and in his chain of command.
As part of the city’s final report, it cited several of messages that it classified as sexual harassment.
The texts show Kamp talking to the officer about sex, commenting on her body and appearance, telling her he was turned on, and asking her to give him a heads up the next time she was going to wear yoga pants.
Kamp retired from the Phoenix Police Department as a lieutenant in September 2021.
The substantiated harassment took place in 2020 and 2021, records show. But the investigation didn’t begin until several months after Kamp left the department.
In early 2022, an officer told a supervisor that she was being harassed by Kamp, which led to a formal complaint with the police department. The police department also informed the city Equal Opportunity Department.
Kamp claimed the officer complained retroactively because she was facing performance issues.
“This was six or seven months after I had already left the department and retired and moved on,” he said during an interview. “And for my understanding is, it was more of like a shotgun blast, just trying to maybe mitigate some of her performances to avoid attention being drawn to herself.”
The officer no longer works as a Phoenix officer, and her name was redacted from the city’s investigation because she’s considered a victim.
ABC15 reached out to her to let her know that the station had obtained records related to the sexual harassment investigation.
She thanked a reporter for letting her know and asked ABC15 not to identify her because she’s moved past what happened.
The woman declined to comment further.
ABC15 also obtained records showing that Kamp was suspended for a day 2014 for improperly accessing a confidential law enforcement database without a legitimate criminal justice purpose.
He was also reprimanded in 2013 for repeatedly using a city vehicle for personal use.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
