Phoenix police routinely use excessive force: US Justice Dept [Video]

Police in Phoenix, one of the biggest cities in the United States, routinely use excessive force, a damning government report said Thursday — the latest condemnation of problematic behavior by American law enforcement.

Officers in the Arizona state capital rapidly escalate tensions in encounters with the public, resorting to sometimes deadly action within minutes of arriving on scene, the Justice Department said.

They also target ethnic minorities, the homeless, people suffering mental health episodes and groups protesting police action, in what the Department of Justice described as a “systemic problem.”

“The Phoenix Police Department uses excessive force, often unreasonably escalating the level of force within the very first few minutes or even seconds of an encounter,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke told reporters.

“For example, Phoenix officers shot a man, and after he fell, fired multiple projectiles at him and then sent a police canine to drag …