Phoenix Cops Won't Be Disciplined For Inventing Fake Gang
Phoenix Cops Won’t Be Disciplined For Inventing Fake Gang And Arresting People They Claimed Were Members
In today’s episode of Police Be Lying, And Here’s Your Proof, officers with the Phoenix Police Department conjured up a fake gang and then falsely charged protesters as members back in 2020, and, last week, it was determined that none of them would face any repercussions for the egregious, unlawful and unjust deception, largely because they’re all retired.
According to a press release by the PPD, six officers were internally investigated by Chief Matt Giordano, who ultimately determined that three of them violated department policy, but sources reportedly told ABC 15 Arizona that all three former officers are retired, and thus, cannot be disciplined.
Apparently, filing a false police report is a serious and punishable offence when civilians do it, but all a cop has to do is quit their job to avoid discipline, which likely wouldn’t have included criminal charges anyway, even when the cops use falsehoods to make arrests.
From ABC:
One of the key officials involved in the gang charges was Sgt. Doug McBride, who was the officer who misled a grand jury to secure the indictment, records show.
The court called his testimony “egregious.”
McBride retired in December 2025 before the internal investigation was completed, and he now collects a $98,000 annual pension.
The scandal largely began following the arrest of a group of 17 protesters on October 21, 2020. In the days after the arrest, Phoenix officers and county prosecutors colluded to invent a gang and then falsely charge the protesters as members.
The city and county stood by the charges until February 2021, when ABC15 launched its “Politically Charged” investigation.
The news series exposed how Phoenix police and county prosecutors lied to a grand jury to obtain the gang charges and testified that the protesters were comparable to the Bloods, Crips, and Hells Angels, according to a confidential transcript obtained by ABC15.
As a direct result of ABC15’s investigation, more than 40 felony protest cases were dismissed, the city and county admitted to widespread failures with the arrests, and the lead prosecutor was suspended from practicing law for at least two years and may never practice again.
Here’s a question: why is there next to no punishment given to cops and officers of the court who use lies and copaganda to upend people’s lives by knowingly arresting and prosecuting them for things they did not do?
These people — these law enforcement officials — invented a gang, compared their invented gang to real gangs with the most notorious reputations, and then made arrests and told juries their suspects were members of that non-existent gang. That’s not an offense that should be punished with a write-up or suspension — cops should go to prison for it.
It’s worth noting that what happened in Phoenix is especially concerning, considering that, on a federal level, the Trump administration is doing generally the same thing with Antifa, which the government and President Donald Trump have labeled a “major terrorist organization,” despite the fact that federal authorities previously stated that Antifa is a loose ideology, not an organization. This fact, of course, hasn’t prevented the administration from claiming Antifa is the U.S.’s greatest domestic terror threat, and arresting protesters, and claiming without evidence that they are part of an Antifa terrorist cell.
We can’t trust these authorities — at the local or national level — to tell the truth, but we’ve trusted them with upholding the rule of law. And there just doesn’t seem to be any consequences for them consistently betraying that trust.
SEE ALSO:
[Op-Ed] The Police Be Lying, And Here’s Your Proof
