A growing body of evidence proves Phoenix police use deadly force far more than necessary and target Black and brown people far more often than white people.

Much of this has been documented in recent years by journalists at The Arizona Republic, whose investigations repeatedly showed unequal, unjust and unconscionable police practices. Based in part on The Republic’s reporting, the U.S. Justice Department has delivered a damning three-year report on the department’s foul treatment of civil rights.

Officers routinely discriminate against Black, Hispanic and Native American people, violate the speech rights of protesters and the property rights of the unhoused, federal investigators found.

Phoenix police shoot and shoot to kill more often than most police forces and have systematically violated the rights of the unhoused by confiscating their property and arresting them on flimsy grounds.

Confronted by their own abuses of authority, the department has been substantively unmoved. Phoenix has demonstrated that it will not adequately reform itself.

That’s no longer tolerable.

The only path to systemic reform is through a federal mandate known as a consent decree. This path is invasive. It’s expensive. But it’s the only mechanism that promises accountability.

Moving forward without a consent decree is a path that embraces the status quo.

City leaders have proven they are unable to ensure the city’s police force balances public safety and civil rights.

Their response to the investigation and its findings has been woefully inadequate.

Mayor Kate Gallego, so far, has only proposed “listening sessions.”

The politically divided City Council and police brass went on overdrive many months ago, blasting the findings as innuendos and “half-truths.” They have vowed to fight any kind of federal oversight.

That resistance means lengthy and expensive legal........

© Arizona Republic