News Source: City of Maricopa Police Deparment
Maricopa Residents,
I am honored to serve as the Maricopa Police Chief, and today I share this letter with you not only in that capacity, but as a fellow resident of this community. One of my highest priorities is maintaining your trust in our department through accountability, transparency, and action.
With that in mind, I’d like to share an important message with you.
The Maricopa Police Department recently conducted an internal review of several legacy, or in other words, “older” criminal cases, dating back more than a decade. Some involve crimes such as property theft, as well as some serious offenses such as sex crimes.
During this process, we uncovered some potential deficiencies in our investigations that raised concerns about whether some of these cases were handled with the level of attention they deserved. Specifically, the records for some of these legacy cases do not indicate whether any investigation took place at all before they were closed.
This is unacceptable and does not reflect the high-quality police department that serves our community. We take this very seriously and are taking swift action to address the issue.
In order to ensure objectivity and maintain public trust, we immediately referred the matter to the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) for an independent internal affairs investigation into at least 40 cases. DPS has agreed and is now actively reviewing the issue.
This process, which will ensure accountability in the handling of the cases, will take time, and we ask for your patience as it unfolds. We commit to sharing the findings of the DPS investigation with the public when the investigation is completed. We believe transparency is essential to earning and maintaining your trust.
In the meantime, we have already reopened a number of the affected cases. Every case — and every person behind that case — deserves a thorough and fair investigation. We are committed to doing right by the victims and ensuring proper follow-up where needed.
We have also taken steps internally to prevent this from happening again.
We have enhanced our investigative review process to increase oversight and collaboration with leadership throughout each case. This includes requiring additional sign-offs before a case status can be changed or closed. As we learn more from the investigation, further steps will be taken if necessary.
If you have concerns about past cases, I encourage you to contact Lieutenant Kathleen Elliott at 520-316-6864 or by email at Ka**************@ma*********.gov.
We thank the Maricopa community for its continued support as we work to uphold the standards of professionalism and integrity that you expect from us.
Chief Mark Goodman
