TEMPE — A months-long criminal investigation into allegations that Tempe city officials misused a confidential law enforcement database to track the homeless and their advocates has been closed, with investigators finding no evidence to support the claims.
The Peoria Police Department has released its investigation and findings, saying they found no crimes after a former Tempe police commander accused the city of misusing police data to track people experiencing homelessness and advocates.
RELATED: Former Tempe office accuses city of misusing police database to track the homeless
At issue was who was granted access to the information contained in the Arizona Criminal Justice Information System (ACJIS), which is a confidential, computerized criminal record and law enforcement system that is not to be used by the public nor used for personal use by the department.
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Last August, the former commander’s then-attorney requested an investigation into the allegations against city leaders and staff.
The letter claimed that Tempe Police Department’s Threat Mitigation Unit (“TMU”) was used to conduct social media and internet surveillance on Austin Davis and Ron Tapscott, so the city and police department could know which parks they would plan on feeding the homeless.
Davis is the director of AZ Hugs, and Tapscott is the organizer of an outreach group called New Meal Deal.
Both nonprofit leaders, who help people experiencing homelessness, are among those Tempe has cited for feeding unhoused people in parks, with the City of Tempe saying they need to apply for a special-event permit.
Over the nine-month investigation, there’s no indication that the city manager or others implicated by the initial complaint letter were interviewed. The report also made no indication that Peoria investigators contacted former Commander Johnson, who raised the concerns. An attorney for Johnson confirmed the former commander was not contacted or interviewed.
The report shows that Peoria investigators reviewed ABC15’s initial reporting, the statements provided by the city in the initial reports, the letter from Commander Rashidi Johnson’s former attorney, and interviewed two data analysts with the city.
Peoria investigators also sent an email to Tempe police asking them to answer questions related to whether any police data was ever shared. A Tempe police lieutenant provided reports and quarterly meeting minutes to Peoria police to show that information was never shared.
One of the data analysts denied creating a tracking system or accessing the confidential police database.
The city’s data analytics officer was also interviewed and said she has undergone a full police department background check and is ACJIS certified.
When asked about the allegations of creating a system to track individuals, she told investigators that the “system” likely refers to the existing police Records Management System (RMS), VersaTerm, which is a vendor-provided solution. The data analytics officer said that any data that leaves the police department is not ACJIS data.
Peoria investigators did not find that a tracking system was created, and they did not find that any data was improperly accessed related to Davis or Tapscott.
Peoria’s outside investigation found that Davis was queried 48 times by 39 different users during the requested timeframe, and Tapscott was queried 5 times by two different users.
A spokesperson for the City of Tempe said it’s standard police procedure to run the names of people that officers make contact with.
Peoria investigators wrote, “there is no evidence to support the allegations of unauthorized access, dissemination, or political misuse of ACJIS data,” and they went on to say there was no evidence to support the allegations.
The City of Tempe said in a statement that the city and the police department responsibly use tools and technology to ensure the safety of everyone in the city, and “the Peoria Police Department provided a thorough investigation, which was affirmed by Arizona DPS.”
The statement went on to say, “Our officers and our city leadership did nothing wrong and every allegation was false."
FULL STATEMENT:
"The City of Tempe and Tempe Police Department respect the people in our community and the law. We responsibly use tools and technology to ensure the safety of everyone in our city. The Peoria Police Department provided a thorough investigation, which was affirmed by Arizona DPS. As we repeatedly stated would be the case, they determined that the accusations against City of Tempe leadership and the Tempe Police Department were completely unfounded and there was no evidence of misuse. Our officers and our city leadership did nothing wrong and every allegation was false."
