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ARIZONA LEGISLATIVE DEMOCRATS
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June 2. 2020

Govemor Ducey.

Over the last week we have seen pain. frustration and anguish centered around decades of systemic
and deliberate mistreatment of African Americans boil over in Arizona and throughout our country.
These demonstrations are a nationwide show of solidarity and demand for change over the murder of
George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. unanswered questions surrounding the shooting
death of Dion Johnson by an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper. and to bring an end to
racism and police brutality in our communities.

Our own state has three cities Phoenix. Tucson and Mesa in the top maior cities with police
killings, The disparate treatment of people of color by law enforcement is a serious issue that will
require hard work by all of us to overcome. _i_s__a,fact< that the rate at which

African Americans are killed by police is more than twice as high as the rate for white Americans.

As elected leaders with the ability and power to elicit change, we must conunit ourselves to do better,
to listen and learn from those closest to this pain and turn that into action. Therefore. the Senate and
House Democrats respectfully, but urgently request that. in addition to an anticipated special session
to further contend with the statewide emergency, that you also call us into a special session
to address our state's other most pressing emergency to enact genuine police reform Many cities are
making progress by instituting civilian review boards for police misconduct, but we need to do more.

The time to show leadership is now. the time to act is now. We hope you will join our efforts to create
real change for our communities. To that point. we call for legislative action that includes input from
community groups which re?ect the diversity of our state. leaders in the law enforcement community.
tribal leaders and others to begin the conversation with the following transparency, accountability and
training policy ideas that our caucus members have proposed for many years.



Requirements for every peace officer to wear a body camera that records audio and video while the
officer is engaged in official duties, and for those records to be maintained for a specific amount of
time. Body cameras provide an objective alternative viewpoint for the protection and safety of the
public and officers.

Investigations of deadly use of force
Require the investigation of a law enforcement of?cer?s use of deadly force to be conducted by a
different jurisdiction from where the officer is employed. Direct the outside investigator to provide

the report to the county attorney for the county in which the death occurred. Nationally. police
o?icm are convicted of charged crimes at half the rate of civilians charged with crimes. and mly
9m: of?cer was prosecuted in Maricopa county in a span of seven years. This must change.

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Create a statewide database. to be maintained by AZ POST with input from the AG. to include all
law enforcement of?cers in the state. Require the database to include the discipline records of all
of?cers and mandate that law enforcement agencies run a database search before they hire any
of?cer. So-called "bad apple? of?cers are currently allowed to jump from agency to agency.

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Add new training requirements for AZ POST certi?cation to include cultural sensitivity and de-
escalation classes. With of?cer-involved shootings and police brutality on the rise. we clearly must
improve police training.

Allows a peace of?cer to be sued for simple negligence for actions or omissions carried out while
on duty. Removes the justi?cation defense for an of?cer who is found to have acted unlawfully.
Right now. taxpayers foot the bill for settlements when of?cers are negligent.

Thank you for your immediate attention to this vital matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sincerely.
DAVID BRADLEY FERNANDEZ
Senate Democruic Leader Home Denncruic Leader
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LUPE CONTRERAS DR RANDAL FRIESE
Senate Assutmt Democratic Leader "use Assist? Democratic Leader
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LISA OTONDO REGINALD BOLDING
Senate Democratic (Io-Whip llouse Democrmc ('o-Whlp
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JAMESCITA ATHENA SALMAN
Senate Democrat Co-Whip llouae Democrwc o-Whip

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