Arizona police agencies form task force to investigate use-of-force, police shootings

Eight East Valley police agencies are poised to create a regional task force that will streamline investigations of use-of-force cases and shootings involving officers.

The East Valley Critical Incident Response Team will consist of police from Apache Junction, Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Paradise Valley, Queen Creek, Scottsdale and Tempe.

In 2021, the state Legislature passed a law that requires a police department with shootings and use-of-force cases to refer the investigations to outside law enforcement agencies. That can be done by the state’s Department of Public Safety or a regional task force. The new East Valley working group will satisfy that state requirement that will go into effect in June 2025.

Queen Creek approved its agreement with the seven other cities Wednesday and Mesa is poised to approve its contract Monday. The agreement will remain in effect until 2034.

Nine West Valley agencies launched a similar task force in 2021 a month after state lawmakers passed the bill.

Pima County in southern Arizona has a similar task force made up of nine agencies including Tucson police and the county Sheriff’s Office that was created in 2022.

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How it will work

For the past 18 months, the nine departments have worked to develop the workflow and guidelines for the task force, Assistant Chief Lee Rankin told the Mesa City Council during a presentation Thursday.

Launching the task force a year before the law is enacted will give the police departments the ability to “hone in” the process, Rankin said.

He said the task force will create consistency for all investigations into critical force incidences in the region.

The law defines a critical force incident in two parts. Firstly any time an officer discharges their firearm for a use-of-force encounter regardless of whether it results in an injury or death. Secondly, any incident involving an officer's intended use of deadly force or force by any other means that results in death or serious bodily injury.

A chief of police can also request the task force to investigate any high-profile incident involving misconduct allegations or incidents resulting in the death of an officer.

Mesa, Tempe, Gilbert, Chandler and Scottsdale will serve as the lead investigating agencies and the remaining agencies will provide support to the task force due to their size.

Mesa cases will be assigned out to the other lead agencies and the city will take on the rest of the cases for the other departments.

That’s largely because of Mesa’s size of its police department. On average, the city has 10 cases a year in which an officer shoots a gun . Other cities average two shootings a year each.

The cities will still retain their right to have DPS investigate the case if none of the other police departments have the capacity for it.

Mesa’s crime lab will handle all the forensic examinations for the investigations, Rankin said.

Reporter Maritza Dominguez covers Mesa, Gilbert and Queen Creek and can be reached at maritza.dominguez@arizonarepublic.com or 480-271-0646. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @maritzacdom .

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona police agencies form task force to investigate use-of-force, police shootings