# Phoenix *Capital of Arizona; in this record, one of the jurisdictions whose police findings the U.S. Justice Department retracted in a single action on May 21, 2025.* Phoenix is the seat of Maricopa County and serves as Arizona's capital. It is also the state's largest city, with more than 1.6 million residents counted in the 2020 census.[^1] It enters the Minnesota record through one federal document: release 25-534 of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, dated May 21, 2025.[^2] In that release the Department moved to dismiss with prejudice its suits concerning [[Minneapolis]] and [[Louisville]] and closed both investigations. It also retracted the findings in those matters, together with the findings as to Phoenix, [[Trenton]], [[Memphis]], [[Mount Vernon]], [[Oklahoma City]] and the [[Louisiana State Police]].[^2] The release describes the action in the words of Assistant Attorney General Dhillon: "ending the Biden Civil Rights Division's failed experiment of handcuffing local leaders."[^2] The documented outputs of the Minneapolis instrument ended in that action include a June 16, 2023 finding of reasonable cause that the [[Minneapolis Police Department]] "uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force and unreasonable use of tasers".[^3] They also include an 89-page findings report[^4] and a 169-page [[consent decree]] filed January 6, 2025.[^5] The record assembled here does not include the Phoenix findings themselves, their date, or their content.[^2] ## Who - The retraction was issued by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. The release quotes Assistant Attorney General Dhillon on the action.[^2] - The Minneapolis findings that were retracted alongside Phoenix's had been issued by the same Division on June 16, 2023, as release 23-674.[^3] ## What As recorded in the pack, release 25-534 did three things.[^2] It moved to "dismiss with prejudice" the Minneapolis and Louisville suits, and it closed both investigations.[^2] It then retracted the findings in those two matters and in six further matters: Phoenix, Trenton, Memphis, Mount Vernon, Oklahoma City and the Louisiana State Police.[^2] The release, as recorded here, describes dismissals only for the Minneapolis and Louisville suits.[^2] For Phoenix, the documented federal output in this pack is the retraction of findings. No Phoenix suit, docket or consent decree appears in the pack. ## When - **May 21, 2025**: the Civil Rights Division issued release 25-534, which carried the dismissals and the retraction of findings as to Phoenix and the other listed jurisdictions.[^2] ## Where The city lies in the Salt River Valley, in the northern part of the Sonoran Desert.[^1] It sits in south-central Arizona, roughly midway between Tucson to the southeast and Flagstaff to the north. By road it is about 150 miles (240 km) north of the US–Mexico border crossing at Sonoyta.[^1] Phoenix covers 517.9 square miles (1,341 km²), more than any other city in Arizona.[^1] The [[United States Census Bureau]] put its 2020 population at 1,608,139.[^1] Settlers established Phoenix as a farming community in 1867, near where the Salt and Gila Rivers meet. The city was incorporated in 1881 and was made capital of the Arizona Territory in 1889.[^1] ## How many The pack's account of release 25-534 names eight jurisdictions in all.[^2] The Department dismissed the suits and retracted the findings for Minneapolis and Louisville, and it retracted the findings for six more, including Phoenix.[^2] The project's at-issue item 031 describes the same action as the Minneapolis findings being retracted along with "six others", but it lists seven jurisdictions besides Minneapolis.[^2] This article follows the agency release's list. ## In the at-issue record [[At issue 031 - When DOJ retracted the Minneapolis findings it retracted]] (Hennepin package, shock rank 75) records that the Minneapolis findings were withdrawn in the same action as findings concerning other jurisdictions, Phoenix among them.[^2] The item treats the batch retraction as a policy event rather than a Minneapolis-specific one. The release's own list of jurisdictions supports its point that Minneapolis was one of several matters withdrawn together.[^2] ## In the Minnesota record ### When - **June 1, 2020**: the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) filed a charge against the [[City of Minneapolis]] and its police department.[^6] - **April 21, 2021**: the Justice Department opened a pattern-or-practice investigation of the City of Minneapolis and MPD under 34 U.S.C. § 12601. The investigation was announced one day after the [[Chauvin verdict]].[^7] - **April 27, 2022**: MDHR found "probable cause that the City and MPD engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act."[^6] - **March 31, 2023**: a court-enforceable settlement between the State and MPD was filed.[^8] - **June 16, 2023**: the Department found reasonable cause that MPD "unlawfully discriminates against Black people and Native American people in its enforcement activities".[^3] The full findings report runs to 89 pages.[^4] - **July 13, 2023**: Judge Karen Janisch of the [[Hennepin County District Court]] approved the state settlement in *Minnesota v. Minneapolis Police Department*, [[No. 27-CV-23-4177]].[^8][^9] - **January 6, 2025**: a consent decree was filed in *[[United States v. City of Minneapolis (MPD consent decree)]]*, No. 0:25-cv-00048 (D. Minn.). The 169-page decree provided for an independent monitor.[^5] - **March 18, 2024**: ELEFA began work as the state settlement's [[independent evaluator]].[^8] - **May 21, 2025**: the Department moved to dismiss the federal case with prejudice and retracted its Minneapolis findings, along with those as to Phoenix and the other listed jurisdictions.[^2] - **May 2025**: Judge [[Paul A. Magnuson]] granted the dismissal with prejudice and denied the motion to approve the settlement as moot. The Clearinghouse docket dates the order May 27, 2025.[^7] Sahan Journal reports that it issued on May 28, 2025, and quotes the judge's "grave misgivings about the proposed consent decree serving the public interest."[^10] ### What MDHR's 2022 report sets out the following counts:[^6] - Of the 14 people killed by MPD officers since 2010, 13 were people of color or Indigenous. - Black residents made up 19% of the population but 63% of recorded use-of-force incidents from 2010 to 2020. - Over 2017–2020, Black residents accounted for 54% of officer-initiated traffic stops and 78% of all searches. The state settlement terminates only on a judicial finding of "full, effective, and sustained compliance."[^8][^11] The record therefore shows two outcomes for instruments arising from the same investigations of the same police department. The federal decree was dismissed and its findings were retracted in a batch that included Phoenix.[^2][^7] The state's court-enforceable settlement continued under an independent evaluator; the pack records no termination of it.[^8][^9] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Phoenix, Arizona* (revision 1382260572, retrieved 2026-10-27) — capital status, county seat, 2020 population, area, location, and settlement, incorporation and territorial-capital dates of Phoenix. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona [^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, *Release 25-534* (May 21, 2025) — motion to dismiss with prejudice the Minneapolis and Louisville suits, closure of both investigations, retraction of findings including those as to Phoenix, Trenton, Memphis, Mount Vernon, Oklahoma City and the Louisiana State Police, and statement of AAG Dhillon. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-department-justices-civil-rights-division-dismisses-biden-era-police-investigations-and [^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, *Release 23-674* (June 16, 2023) — reasonable-cause findings on excessive force and discrimination by MPD. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-civil-rights-violations-minneapolis-police-department-and-city [^4]: U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, *Minneapolis findings report* (June 2023) — full 89-page findings report. https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-06/minneapolis_findings_report.pdf [^5]: U.S. Department of Justice, *Release on agreement with the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department* (January 2025) — consent decree filed January 6, 2025, No. 0:25-cv-00048 (D. Minn.), 169 pages, providing for an independent monitor. https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-reaches-agreement-city-minneapolis-and-minneapolis-police-department [^6]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department* (April 27, 2022) — charge filed June 1, 2020, probable-cause finding, and killing, use-of-force, traffic-stop and search counts. https://mn.gov/mdhr/assets/Investigation%20into%20the%20City%20of%20Minneapolis%20and%20the%20Minneapolis%20Police%20Department_tcm1061-526417.pdf [^7]: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, *Case 18178: United States v. City of Minneapolis* — investigation opened April 21, 2021 under 34 U.S.C. § 12601, and dismissal docketed May 27, 2025. https://clearinghouse.net/case/18178/ [^8]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Civil rights update* (2023–2024) — settlement filed March 31, 2023, approved July 13, 2023 by Judge Karen Janisch, termination standard, and ELEFA beginning March 18, 2024. https://mn.gov/mdhr/news-community/newsroom/civilrightsupdates.jsp?id=1061-584578 [^9]: Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, *Case 43326: Minnesota v. Minneapolis Police Department* — docket for No. 27-CV-23-4177. https://clearinghouse.net/case/43326/ [^10]: Sahan Journal, *Minneapolis federal consent decree dismissed* (2025) — reports Judge Magnuson's May 28, 2025 order and quotes its "grave misgivings" language. https://sahanjournal.com/public-safety/minneapolis-federal-consent-decree-dismissed/ [^11]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *MPD court-enforceable agreement document hub* — settlement documents for No. 27-CV-23-4177. https://mn.gov/mdhr/mpd/agreement/