Phoenix says 29 of the 37 police reforms it adopted in 2024 are done. Of the eight still open in January, five had deadlines that have since passed. Tuesday's Policy Session is the first public check on whether they closed.
On Sept. 24, 2024, after a Justice Department report accused the Phoenix Police Department of excessive force and discrimination, the City Council unanimously adopted 37 action items to fix it without a federal consent decree. The Council also required staff to report progress in writing every three months for three years.
The Arizona Inquirer graded every item using the city's own status sheet, the Jan. 12, 2026 summary attached to the Council's January Policy Session. The next update is Tuesday, Oct. 27.
The grades
Phoenix's 37 police action items, graded against the city's own January status sheet
29
Done, by the city's count
3
Open, still inside their deadlines
5
Open, past their deadlines
0
Dropped
Source: City of Phoenix, Public Safety Improvement Action Items summary as of Jan. 12, 2026. "Past" means the target date fell before Oct. 26, 2026.
No item has been abandoned. That matters. The open question is timing, and the five overdue items include the one the whole program depends on. Nine of the 29 completed items also carry ongoing parts, like annual reports to the Council.
The five past their deadlines
Action item | Target | Done in January |
|---|---|---|
Fourth Amendment audits of police reports | June 2026 | 70% |
Youth and homelessness interaction policies | April 2026 | 70% |
Letting the Crisis Intervention Team put emergencies first | March 2026 | 50% |
Moving work from sworn officers to civilian staff | April 2026 | 75% |
Community-built improvement plan | April 2026 | 20% |
The Fourth Amendment audits. The Council ordered the Performance Compliance Team to regularly audit a sample of police reports to check that officers had reasonable suspicion for stops and probable cause for searches, with findings to the Council and the Civilian Review Board at least once a year. In September 2025 the city said the first assessment report would come in the first full quarter after its new records system launched on Sept. 9, 2025. In January the target became June 2026. The city has not said publicly whether any audit is finished. The Inquirer asked on Oct. 21. The city's reply did not address it.
Youth and homelessness policies. Police surveyed more than 2,270 young people for a new Youth Interactions Policy and drafted a policy for interactions with people experiencing homelessness. Both went out for 30 days of public comment. Both were set to go live in April 2026.
Crisis Intervention Team priorities. The city's sheet says this one is pending a change in state law, with a pilot running in the meantime. That makes it the only overdue item the city says is partly out of its hands.
Civilian staff. Reviews of an ASU calls-for-service study and a PFM staffing study identified calls that police assistants could handle instead of officers. A proposal for which positions to convert was still in review with the budget office.
The improvement plan. The Chief's combined strategic plan, LEAD with PRIDE, was supposed to be built with community input. In September 2025 the city said it would be ready by December 2025. In January it was 20% done, the lowest of any overdue item.
The three still on the clock
Customer service training, 20%, due December 2026. Department-wide classes were scheduled for early 2026.
Youth prevention programs, 50%, due January 2027. A state grant the city sought for a mentoring partnership was denied, and the department said it would look for other funding.
An early warning system for officers, 40%, due June 2027. The Council approved a vendor in 2025.
What the done column actually holds
Some of the completed items are real, measurable changes:
A misconduct hotline and online complaint portal went live in November 2025.
New investigators now handle lower-level misconduct cases, so patrol sergeants stay on the street.
From 2024 to 2025, calls transferred from police to the Community Assistance Program rose 128%, and behavioral health unit calls rose 96%. Since Dec. 15, 2025, 911 operators ask callers whether they need police, fire or behavioral health.
The Office of Accountability and Transparency had released 41 reports on police investigations, made 25 recommendations, and was reviewing 159 cases as of January. The Civilian Review Board has adopted all of its findings without changes.
Others are paperwork that has to prove itself. Many completed items are rewrites of the Professional Standards Bureau manual: deadlines for reports, standards for evidence, written findings for complainants. The city lists their ongoing measure as "constant review of investigations to ensure compliance." That review is exactly what the overdue audit is supposed to produce.
What to watch Tuesday
Three numbers will tell the story:
How many of the 37 are done now, compared with 29 in January.
Whether the first Fourth Amendment audit is finished, and whether its findings go to the Council and the Civilian Review Board.
Whether the youth and homelessness policies are live, six months after their target.
The Inquirer will update this story after the session.
This scorecard grades each of the 37 action items against the City of Phoenix's own status summary dated Jan. 12, 2026, published with the Council's Jan. 27, 2026 Policy Session, and compares it with the city's Sept. 1, 2025 summary. "Past its deadline" means an item was in progress in January with a target date before Oct. 26, 2026; some may have been completed since, which Tuesday's update should show. Percentages are the city's own estimates. The Inquirer sent questions to the Mayor's office on Oct. 21 about which items remain open and whether any compliance audit has been completed; city staff responding for the Mayor's office sent the Council's summer update and pointed to the Oct. 27 session, and did not address the audit question. Police-specific questions are going through the Phoenix Police Department's media portal. We are looking for anyone who has seen a Performance Compliance Team audit, served on the Civilian Review Board, or worked on the youth or homelessness policies. Corrections and tips: [email protected].