DOJ investigation draws renewed interest in Phoenix police challenge coin controversy
PHOENIX — Police departments across the country utilize challenge coins to honor brave and heroic acts or to designate membership of a precinct or unit. As military veterans pursued careers in law enforcement in the late 1900s, more police forces started implementing the use of challenge coins to boost camaraderie and inclusion, according to Kevin Robinson, a former 36-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department.
The Phoenix Police Department has used challenge coins for years and for the same reason.
The coins are customizable with symbols, mottos and numbers representing the unit or organization, Robinson said.
Robinson has about 15 challenge coins from his time as the Maryvale Precinct Commander with the Phoenix Police Department with some dating back to 1999, he said. One that he's very fond of has a picture of Phoenix City Hall and the Phoenix bird on the front, as well as a message from the mayor, and on the back, it has the name and date of an investigation he helped solve.
Police departments across the country have been criticized and investigated following the distribution of controversial challenge coins. The Phoenix Police Department came under scrutiny this year after an ABC15 investigation revealed a challenge coin that depicted a violent act and included potentially racist language was distributed among the ranks of Phoenix police following a protest against former President Donald Trump in 2017.
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Following a months-long investigation ordered by the city into the manufacturing and distribution of the controversial coin that did little to appease community activists — some calling for all involved, including police Chief Jeri Williams, to be fired — a number of questions remain.
Among them, who authorizes the manufacturing and distribution of challenge coins, how do police departments deal with negative or inappropriate coins, and how, if at all, the U.S. Department of Justice plans on investigating this issue as a part of its wide-ranging probe into the Phoenix Police Department's excessive use of force and discrimination allegations.
What prompted the city's investigation?
At an anti-Trump protest in 2017, Phoenix police Officer Christopher Turiano fired a smoke canister that struck Josh Cobin, one of the protesters, in the groin.
A challenge coin circulated within the department commemorating the event with writing on one side that said "Making America Great Again One Nut at a Time," while the other side said "Good Night Left Nut," — the latter possibly an allusion to the neo-Nazi slogan "Good Night Left Side," according to city officials.
What did the investigation find?
The city's outside investigation into the coin confirmed the coin was made and officers at the Phoenix Police Department purchased or distributed them.
The report indicated former Detective Sam Palmer ordered the coins while his wife, Sgt. Jantra Palmer, distributed them within the department. However, without being able to interview Sam Palmer, investigators could not indicate who was behind the creation of the coin.
Investigators also found no evidence of whether officers associated the phrase "Good Night Left Nut" with the neo-Nazi slogan "Good Night Left Side."
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What actions were taken?
Phoenix police Chief Williams received a letter of reprimand after the report came out Thursday detailing the department's involvement with the incident. In addition, Williams was directed to strengthen existing policies on the prohibition of hate speech and surrounding the creation and distribution of commemorative items.
The city's external review team was tasked to assess the Downtown Operations Unit and the Tactical Response Unit and to report to the City Manager proper reform measure for those units.
The Professional Standards Bureau will further interview personnel on the creation and distribution of the coin and other memorabilia. Discipline will be assessed to individual employees while any member on the Tactical Response Unit named in the report will no longer serve on the unit.
Officers were disciplined in relation to a different report about a set of gang-related charges against protesters, but not in relation to the report about the coin. A written statement last week from Michael "Britt" London, president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, which represents Phoenix officers, reiterated support of officers and did not mention the coin.
How or if the DOJ decides to review this issue as a part of their overarching investigation remains to be seen. The probe, announced Aug. 5, came after the DOJ reviewed various court filings, media reports and citizen complaints before launching its investigation. Still, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland did not give specifics about what incidents they would be looking into.
Challenge coin controversies in other police departments
Phoenix is not the only police department to experience controversy related to a challenge coin.
After a video went viral of a Connecticut State Trooper performing a profanity-laced traffic stop, someone not affiliated with the Connecticut State Police designed a challenge coin commemorating the event, according to the Hartford Courant. The coin began circulating amongst other state troopers and police officers, according to the Connecticut State Police.
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In Louisville, Kentucky, a coin depicting police officers in riot gear with the city skyline engulfed in flames surfaced on social media following protests over police killing Breonna Taylor. The Louisville Metro Police Department concluded it was not responsible for the purchase or distribution of the coin. The department did not mention disciplinary actions or further investigation in relation to the coin.
Days later, on April 26, the DOJ announced another "pattern or practice" investigation into Louisville, Kentucky’s Metro Police Department, after officers performing a no-knock warrant killed Breonna Taylor, a Black woman.
In Minneapolis, a police officer gave a state representative a challenge coin with "#MplsRiot2020" inscribed on one side during the summer-long protests over George Floyd's murder, according to the Star Tribune. It does not appear any officers have been disciplined.
On April 21, the day after a jury convicted Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed George Floyd, Garland announced the first "pattern or practice" investigation into Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Police Department.
Like in Phoenix, the DOJ did not say the coin triggered the Minneapolis investigation, but it could be incorporated into the "pattern or practice" probe.
Coins are easily attainable and inexpensive
After seeing the initial story about the coin and talking to people within the department, Robinson suspected whoever created the coin did so without supervision.
"I understand it was something that went about outside of the normal process of getting a coin like that," he said.
Coins are often made in association with high-profile cases. Robinson worked with executive oversight and former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon to design a coin for all the people that helped in the investigation of the "Baseline Killer," a serial killer in metro Phoenix in 2005 and 2006.
However, not every challenge coin needs to be cleared or supervised. Coins are easily attainable outside of a police department, Robinson said.
According to an employee of Spartan Coins, a custom coin and pin manufacturing store in Arizona, anyone can buy a coin to commemorate a specific event, whether the person is affiliated with the organization or not. That means it was possible someone from outside the Phoenix Police Department designed the coin and distributed it within the department.
According to the website for Signature Coins, another challenge coin manufacturing company that produces coins for the Phoenix, Chandler, Buckeye and Scottsdale police departments in Arizona, a challenge coin can cost as little as $2.80 per coin and can go up to $10.56, depending on the size of the coin and the quantity ordered. Coins can be ordered by and for any number of institutions and commemorating any sort of event. The website's gallery shows coins created for a U.S. Army aviation unit, another promoting an online training program for army veterans and multiple corporate coins for companies like PayPal, Coca-Cola and Bank of America.
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People can also obtain coins through large retail companies. For example, Amazon, Walmart and Etsy have a challenge coin depicting a California Highway Patrol vehicle colliding with a person with the caption "No Free Rides" available on their websites.
While challenge coins are relatively simple to obtain and cheap, Robinson said he believes that still does not excuse an officer to create one as harmful as the one produced in 2017. An officer's actions that misrepresent the purpose of challenge coins can damage the expectations the public has for the police and lowers their trust, he said.
"It starts to chip away at the trust that the community might have in an organization," he said.
According to Jared Keenan, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, people can't trust the police to protect the community because of the slogans on the coin. Especially in a racially diverse city like Phoenix.
"To know that the Phoenix police are willing to openly take a political and racist stance in a challenge coin should be even more troubling to large portions of the community who don't have any assurances that the police are going to treat them fairly," he said.
The coin adds to the distrust between the police department and the community, which makes the entire community unsafe, including police officers, Keenan said.
Even though some in the community lost trust in the police department, Keenan believes Phoenix police officials "haven't yet engaged in any meaningful reforms" within their department to try to regain that trust.
Considering the purpose of the coin is to honor heroic actions, having a coin that celebrates the injury of another human being concerns Keenan.
"It is deeply troubling that a police department would engage in celebrating conduct that not only injured somebody, but then gloat about it," he said. "It just shows a complete disregard for the wellbeing of the people they're supposed to, and sworn to, protect and serve.
The challenge coin "should be an awful and embarrassing situation" for the Phoenix officers, said Keenan. However, he believes the department is not viewing it that way.
"It wasn't until years later, when the media picked up on the challenge coin, did they finally do anything," he said.
The lack of accountability for officers that may have distributed and manufactured the coin "shows that there's a culture at the Phoenix Police Department that needs to change," Keenan said.
Doubt lingers about DOJ investigation
Even with the federal government's investigation, activists still worry that not enough will be done to ensure the safety of citizens of color.
According to Lola N'sangou, executive director of Mass Liberation Arizona, anything less than substantial measures against Phoenix police will retraumatize the Black and brown communities and not result in real change.
"Unless they (Department of Justice) are willing to go as far as injunctive measures that actually reduce the power of the Phoenix Police Department, nothing that they do will be useful or substantive to prevent our people from being harmed in the city," she said.
While the DOJ can recommend changes for the department, N'sangou believes the question of change remains with the Phoenix Police Department.
"I think that the question really is, for the Phoenix Police Department, what are they willing to do to prevent harm within their own policies and practices," she said.
Robinson believes the Phoenix Police Department does want to change and that they will incorporate the recommendations of the Justice Department, he said. The investigation should allow Phoenix police to move forward and start rebuilding the trust within the community, Robinson said, but urged the Phoenix Police Department to not fall back into their old habits.
"Police departments that aren't willing to move forward, that aren't willing to accommodate themselves to be a greater part of the community ... they're destined for failure," Robinson said.
Contributing: Joseph Darius Jafaari and Perry Vandell
Follow Michael Donohue on Twitter: @MRDonohue4.