About Phoenix Copwatch

Phoenix Copwatch is a citizen's group formed to combat abuse by the police in our community. We use a variety of means to fight police abuse including community patrols, videotaping and community education. Copwatch is completely independent from the police, all other law enforcement agencies,the government and all political parties.

We believe that police brutality and harassment is widespread and the only way to stop it is to confront it directly. To do this, Phoenix Copwatch goes out regularly to monitor the police as they stop people or pull over their vehicles. In doing this, we do not interfere with the police, but we do record their activities to prevent brutality and abuse. We also do not provoke confrontations with law enforcement, but we do support the principle of self-defense against police attacks.

Phoenix Copwatch wants an end to all police brutality in the Valley. We want to help accomplish that by observing and recording police activity on the streets. Additionally, we support the creation of strong civilian review boards run by citizens (not cops), vested with full investigative and punitive powers. We also demand an end to shoot-to-kill policies among the Valley police departments, in which the police are ordered to shoot to kill a person rather than wound or disable them.

Ultimately, we want to make it so that everyone is Copwatch because we all have the right to watch the police.