Will hiring 425 new Phoenix police officers come at the expense of greater accountability and better civilian-officer relations? Or will more officers mean less violent crime and a safer city? Amid a national conversation about law enforcement’s use of force policies and frightening statistics about the Phoenix Police Department’s record…
Good job, Arizona? Over Labor Day weekend, 1097 law enforcement agents around the state pulled over 14,212 drivers and arrested 450 of them on DUI charges – that’s 100 fewer arrests than last year despite 1,200 more people getting pulled over. The cops caught about the same number of drunk…
Self-help guru and ex-con James Arthur Ray is trying not to let the 2009 deaths of three people at his Arizona sweat lodge extinguish his once-promising motivational-speaking career. On Friday, Ray is scheduled to return to Phoenix for a “one night only,” question-and-answer session called: “A Night of Solutions.” “James will…
It’s puzzling that in the age of Uber and Lyft, hundreds of Valley residents are expected to get pulled over this Labor Day weekend and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. But it always happens during long holiday weekends, despite the many warnings in the media. Last year, law enforcement…
Phoenix motorists taking the I-10 over the long Labor Day weekend will have more to worry about than just holiday traffic. They face the unnerving prospect that a windshield, a side door or the gas tank of their vehicle could be pierced by a random bullet, fired by an unknown…
A Phoenix man held in connection with the May 3 attack in Garland, Texas, wants a new lawyer and claims in a handwritten letter to the court that the FBI took two DNA samples from him without permission. The document was released publicly on September 1 and obtained by New…
On a March night 37 years ago, a young Glendale woman was gruesomely shot to death in her car on a secluded street after an evening of shopping at nearby mall. Her slumped over body and 1976 Toyota Celica were discovered around 8:30 p.m. by a local jogger on the…
A sadistic pimp who ran a bizarre, cult-like harem of prostitutes modeled on a film of the French novel The Story of O faces a lifetime in prison after being convicted July 17 on 105 felony counts, involving sex with minors, pandering and child prostitution. Prosecutors say 60-year old Anthony…
You’d think a man trying to lock his girlfriend in a building and set it on fire would use more than shoelaces to tie the door shut. Much like you’d think he’d know better than to carry four lighters in his pocket when he returned to the scene of the…
An inmate accused raping a teacher at an Arizona prison pleaded guilty Monday. Jacob Harvey, 21, did not take a plea agreement. Prison time for his crimes, rape, kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon, won’t begin until after he finishes he current term in 2041, according to the Pinal…
A new study comparing the best and worst states for underprivileged children ranks Arizona 49th in the nation. Only Mississippi and the District of Columbia received worse scores. (In sub-categories, we ranked 50th out of 51 in early-foundations and economic well-being, 37th in health, and 48th in education.) The study…
Twelve adults and three minors were arrested inside of a west Phoenix Walmart Friday night after approximately twenty protesters took their anti-police brutality message into the crowded store. The group entered the building around 8:30 p.m. while chanting “stop police brutality” and “cops, pigs, murderers,” and were followed by a…
Using the popular hashtags #SayHerName and #BlackLivesMatter, people across the country are expected to take to the streets this weekend and demand accountability for, and attention to, the all-to-frequent instances of police violence against black Americans. Rallies will be held in many cities all weekend as citizens demand a response…
A three-day riot at an Arizona private prison that sent 13 people to the hospital and led to the relocation of more than 1,000 inmates earlier this month was driven, in part, by poor living conditions, according to the prisoner rights organization Middle Ground Prison Reform. In a letter delivered…
A new report on child welfare in Arizona reveals some startling statistics that help explain why the state’s child welfare system is overwhelmed, and why an unprecedented number of children are in foster care or group homes. This report, technically a supplement to the independent audit conducted by the University…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. Jail gives you a lot of time to ponder…
The Arizona Supreme Court upheld a 2003 death-penalty decision for Homer Ray Roseberry, an Arizona resident convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Fred Fottler. (In October, 2000, Roseberry agreed to transport about 1000 pounds of marijuana in his motor home for a drug cartel, secretly planning to steal…
An Arizona prison inmate who sliced off the penis of a seriously mentally ill inmate before killing him has been sentenced to death. Jasper Rushing, 45, was already serving a 28-year prison sentence for the 2001 murder of his stepfather when he mutilated and beat to death his cellmate, 40-year-old…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week: Tyra’s always telling us to be fierce…
Former Minuteman and accused child molester Chris Simcox wants you to feel sorry for him, even as he strives to interrogate his alleged child victims in court. In a recent jailhouse interview with the Arizona Republic, Simcox, 54, rationalized his decision to represent himself in his upcoming trial, where he…
At 5 a.m. Monday morning, Chandler police finally nabbed a guy they’d been looking for since May. Jose Salvador Rodriguez, the 19-year-old serial online dating app burglar, was caught shortly after robbing a Circle K in Chandler. Police had been looking for a young guy who was known to contact…
The Arizona American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court this morning alleging that Arizona’s Civil Asset Forfeiture laws are unconstitutional. These statutes give law enforcement agencies the power to seize personal property if they suspect it was used in criminal activity, and then either to keep it…
