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On November 5th, Arizonans resoundingly re-elected President Trump, passed Proposition 311 “Back the Blue Act” and Proposition 314, “Secure the Border Act.” With these votes, Arizonans affirmed our support of police and our concern about the devastating impacts illegal immigration is having on our public safety, our schools and our communities.
By re-electing President Trump and passing these measures, Arizonans have asserted our opposition against the weaponization of the Department of Justice and against politically motivated “investigations” being conducted by D.C. bureaucrats.
According to the official United States Department of Justice website, “Since the beginning of the Biden Administration, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has opened 23 investigations into police departments. In fact, during the five fiscal years of the administration, the department opened more than twice as many investigations than were opened in the previous five fiscal years.”
As described by the Center for American Progress, an independent, nonpartisan policy institute dedicated to bold, progressive ideas, “In 1994, Democrat President Bill Clinton championed and Congress authorized the attorney general to investigate law enforcement agencies for ‘a pattern or practice of conduct…that deprives persons of rights, privileges or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.’ These investigations, commonly referred to as pattern-or-practice investigations, focus on widespread or systemic misconduct—as opposed to isolated or sporadic instances of wrongdoing.”
Pattern-or-practice investigations differ from criminal civil rights prosecutions of individual law enforcement officers by the DOJ, and have now morphed into a tool utilized by the left to harass and stymie law enforcement agencies through costly, bureaucratic investigations designed to exhaust taxpayer resources and rarely end.
Pattern/practice investigations, combined with their resulting federal consent decrees, place onerous burdens on communities, costing already resource-strapped cities tens of millions of dollars annually in administrative costs with no value. All at a time when cities are battling the increasing demands placed on municipal resources due to post-pandemic restrictions, politically charged regulations created by the Biden/Harris Administration, and the costly strain placed on local governments due to influx of unchecked and unregulated illegal immigration.
These investigations are expensive. Recently, it was revealed that the City of Phoenix has spent north of $10 million to comply with the Biden/Harris Administration’s frivolous investigation. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the onerous burdens placed on communities by the vindictive and politicized Department of Justice.
With their noose of new policies and wielding the threat of an ongoing multi-year investigation, the Biden/Harris Administration has decreased police effectiveness, destroyed force morale, and made it nearly impossible to fill job openings on our police forces. DC politicians and bureaucrats are more focused on protecting criminals than the health, welfare and safety of first-responders and the communities they serve and are using these powerful tools to erode the pipeline of young men and women willing to make the sacrifice necessary to train and pursue careers in policing, furthering the left-wing goal of crippling our law enforcement.
Our current governor, Katie Hobbs, and Attorney General Kris Mayes have stated they have no intention of working with the federal government to fight illegal immigration. President-elect Trump wants to send violent criminals back to their countries. Frustratingly, Gov. Hobbs won’t comply and Attorney General Mayes sits silently exploring new ways to harass and prosecute the president.
Now is the time for the incoming Trump Department of Justice leadership to cancel all of the consent decrees and pattern-or-practice investigations that were instigated with the goal of strangling local law enforcement by the Biden/Harris Administration.
While Arizona’s governor and attorney general have refused to push back against aggressive federal overreach, Arizonans have spoken loud and clear. We support our police, we support ending illegal immigration, and we want a Department of Justice that protects our communities, our borders and those who keep our communities safe.
Rodney Glassman is an Air Force Prosecutor, private sector attorney, and Republican candidate for Attorney General. He may be reached at rodney@slaviceklaw.com.
