Family and Victims of Police Violence Bill of Rights

To preserve and protect victims of law enforcement violence and their loved ones right to justice and due process, a victim has a right:

To be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity, and to be free from intimidation, harassment, and abuse following injury or death as a result of a law enforcement interaction
To have free access to legal and community supports following a critical incident by law enforcement
1. The State of Arizona must fully fund an independent nonprofit legal and advocacy organization to provide free legal counsel and healing support in the case of a critical incident involving law enforcement
  1. The primary purpose of the independent nonprofit legal and advocacy organization funded under this section would be to provide victims of law enforcement violence and/or victim’s families with a law enforcement misconduct attorney, legal advocate, trauma recovery services, and other supports independent of the police department and the municipality free of charge
  2. This includes providing a legal advocate, independent of the police department and municipality, at the scene of an incident of law enforcement violence to inform victims, family members, and witnesses of their right to have an attorney and of their rights regarding answering questions from law enforcement
  3. The nonprofit legal and advocacy organization funded under this section would also provide the families of victims of law enforcement violence with access to an independent medical examination and/or autopsy
2. Victims, family members, and witnesses of an incident of law enforcement violence must have the opportunity to speak with and be joined by legal counsel independent of the involved municipality before and when speaking to investigators or law enforcement
3. Victims, family members, and witnesses of a critical incident must have the opportunity to speak with and be joined by a loved one of their choice before and when speaking to investigators or law enforcement
4. Each investigating agency must establish a clear, written outline of the investigative process and what victims, family members, and witnesses can expect throughout the process, along with information regarding victim and family rights. This must be provided through a legal advocate
To delay and/or refuse an interview, deposition, or other discovery request from an investigative entity without fear of intimidation or retaliation
1. Family members of people harmed by law enforcement must have at least 24 hours before being questioned by investigators or law enforcement for at least 24 hours following the harm to their loved one
To be free from false or misleading information and opinions from investigative entities prior to the legal conclusion of the investigation
1. Loved ones must be notified immediately following physical harm to a person by law enforcement. No identifying information, health status, or details about the incident should be released publicly until loved ones are informed
  1. If 24 hours has passed since the critical incident, and every possible attempt to reach family members of the harmed individual has been exhausted, identifying information and health status can be released
2. The police department must not publicly share details of the incident that could shape public narrative about the incident, including what preceded the incident and what happened during the incident, until the victim and/or family has had an opportunity to review body worn camera footage and incident reports
3. All police reports and investigative materials should refer to individuals who experience police violence as victims, not suspects, and by the names, pronouns, honorifics and gender identifiers they used in daily life
  1. This includes a change to the forms that currently identify victims as suspects
4. The City and/or Police Department may not publicly release false, misleading, or incomplete information about the incident or the victims of law enforcement violence, including information about an individual’s prior legal names, gender, or sexual orientation.
5. The City and/or Police Department may not publicly release information pertaining to a victim’s past interactions with law enforcement
To have all conversations with and updates from investigative entities in the victim and/or family’s preferred language
1. An interpreter or multilingual entity representative must be made available within one hour of a critical incident, and for the duration of the investigation, for non-English speaking victims, family members, and witnesses
To have free, quick, and unredacted access to information, materials, and findings relevant to the injury or death of the victim, with opportunity to review for up to 48 hours prior to public availability
1. Unedited and unredacted body worn camera footage, incident reports, bystander footage, and surveillance video must be shared with the victim’s family within 24 – 72 hours of the critical incident
2. Victims and/or their family must have an opportunity to review any documents and/or footage 48 hours before they are released to the media and/or public c) Victims and/or their family have the right to request blurring of images of the victim and any witnesses or bystanders before footage is released publicly
To have free, quick, and unredacted access to all employment files for the involved officer(s), including but not limited to disciplinary history, use of force history, complaint history, personnel file, AZ POST file, and training history
1. The victim, victim’s family, and attorneys must be given access to the name, photo, disciplinary records, complaint records, and use of force records of the officer(s) involved in their loved one’s death within 72 hrs of the incident, free of charge and without going through the public records process
To be informed of, present at, and, upon request, heard at all investigatory proceedings where the involved officer(s) has the right to be present
To be notified of investigative milestones and outcomes upon completion of the investigation, at least 24 hours prior to public notification
1. Family must be given free access to the complete and unredacted investigative file from all investigating entities without the burden of submitting a public records request upon completion of the investigation
2. Investigators and victim advocates should respond within 24 hours to communications from victims of police violence or their loved ones
3. The independent victim advocate must provide weekly updates to victims and/or loved ones on the status of the investigation
To petition the County Attorney to reopen a case against the officer(s) involved if the County Attorney neglects to press charges against an officer(s)
1. Victims of law enforcement violence and their loved ones whose cases have been closed must have the opportunity to petition to reopen cases without the case being referred from the police department
  1. This process must be clearly written and shared with victims and their family members when criminal charges are not filed against the involved officers
To have personal belongings that are logged as evidence authorized for release within 24 hours of the closure of a criminal investigation into the officer(s) involved or within 90 days of the critical incident, whichever occurs sooner
1. Personal belongings that are not logged as evidence must be released within 14 days of the critical incident
2. Victims of law enforcement violence or their families must be given a complete list of all personal belongings the department has logged
To be informed of, present at, and, upon request, heard at all disciplinary proceedings where the involved officer(s) has the right to be present
To access supportive services and restitution, financed by the involved municipality
1. Victims of police violence, people whose loved ones have experienced law enforcement violence, and witnesses of police violence must have access to free wraparound support services, including trauma care and mental health care
The opportunity to discuss and participate in police department policy change and reform efforts
1. Victims of law enforcement misconduct / violence and their loved ones must have the opportunity to give input on policy changes and reform, including budget hearings and police contract negotiations, at the police department or any entity involved with investigations
To be free from future law enforcement violence
1. Any law enforcement officer involved in an officer involved shooting or in custody death must be permanently removed from any role in law enforcement
2. Any law enforcement officer involved in an officer involved shooting or in custody death must have their pension permanently withheld
3. After any incident of law enforcement violence action will be taken to review the role of police in the circumstances that led to the initial interaction and to consider removal of police from the type of interaction that led to the critical incident

“Victim” is defined as any person who experienced injury or death as a result of a police interaction, regardless of the status and/or outcomes of the criminal and/or civil investigations, and/or disciplinary actions taken by the offending police department

“Family” is defined as the victim’s partner, child, parent, sibling, or other loved one

“Critical Incident” is defined as an interaction between a member of law enforcement and a civilian resulting in the physical injury or death of the civilian