The City of Phoenix launched a new multilingual community reporting platform Monday that will allow residents to report concerns over federal enforcement activity.
The Federal Enforcement Complaint Reporting Portal is a new component of the city’s Community Transparency Initiative (CTI).
The portal was created in response to community concerns about the “impacts of federal enforcement actions on families, neighborhoods and City services,” a news release said.
The new program has five key functions to help make residents feel safer in their community and more connected with law enforcement.
The portal aims to document community concerns about federal enforcement, preserve evidence, support civil rights protections, improve transparency between the city and residents, and ensure multilingual access to reporting and resources.
How this new portal will work is that members of the community can submit complaints, concerns or documentation (in multiple languages) about federal agents who they believe have acted outside of the law or violated their civil rights.
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The Office of Accountability and Transparency (OAT) will collect the submissions, and they will be reviewed by the Phoenix Police Department’s Special Investigations Detail (SID) to determine if the submission needs further investigation.
The SID will then either send the submission to the appropriate agency for criminal charges or share it with the proper agency to investigate it further.
The Attorney General’s Office will review every report, and all reports will be preserved.
“The portal empowers residents to speak up safely and helps the City respond with clarity, accountability and compassion,” OAT director Shannon Johanni said in the release. “Every report strengthens our understanding of what is happening in our neighborhoods and how we can better protect the rights of all Phoenix residents.”
The other CTI citywide efforts include “employee training, data tracking, community resources and new standards for the use of City property during federal operations,” according to the release.
The portal can be accessed online and more information can be found on the CTI website.
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