This meeting of the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee, chaired by Councilmember Robinson, included updates on the Phoenix Police Department's Downtown Operations Unit, the two-year anniversary of the Phoenix Community Court, and other informational items. The subcommittee approved consent items and the minutes from the previous meeting.
Good morning. Today is Wednesday, April 1st, 2026. The time is actually about 10.04. I'd like to call this meeting in order. Welcome to the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee. I'd like to introduce City Attorney Jennifer Vega. Ms. Vega, please explain the role of the public comment. Chair Robinson and Committee members. During citizen comment, members of the public may address the subcommittee for up to three minutes on issues of interest or concern to them. The Arizona Open Meeting Law permits the subcommittee members to listen to the comments, but prohibits members from discussing or acting on the matters presented. Members of the public may speak for up to two minutes to comment on agenda items to be discussed. Comments must be related to the agenda item and the action being considered by the subcommittee. The city council and staff cannot discuss or comment on matters relating to pending investigations, claims, or litigation. The city code requires speakers to present their comments in a respectful and courteous manner. Profane language, threats, or personal attacks on members of the public, council members, or staff are not allowed. A person who violates these rules will lose their opportunity to continue to speak. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Vega. I would also like to introduce our interpreter, Elsie Duarte. Elsie, could you please provide a brief announcement? Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh good morning. As mentioned, my name is Elsie Duarte, and I will be providing Spanish interpretation during today's public safety and justice subcommittee session. I will now take a moment to address our Spanish speaking audience. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Elsie. There are students at Arizona Preparatory Academy and the public affairs class are actually taking college level courses in their senior year at Arizona Prep. It's their public safe public service and American Democracy class. I'd like to welcome Ryan, Jaden, Ethan, Uraldo, and Natalie. You guys thank you very much for being here. Now he's teaching at ASU. I asked them, did they know who the second well I said that Professor Gates was the second best professor at ASU. I asked them if they knew who the first who the best professor at ASU was, and they answered correctly. They said it was me. So we're we're finish with that, and that is a joke. So thank you. And real quick, I'm gonna go into as is or change it. Okay. We're gonna go out of order a little bit. And the first um item is listed as item number two. It's an update on the police department's public safety efforts in the downtown area. This is an item that was carried over from last month, and we'll welcome Assistant Chief Brian Lee and Commander David Cedar to the table. Thank you for the opportunity to be with you here today to provide an overview of the Phoenix Police Department's downtown operations unit, commonly referred to as DOU. I intend to share an overview of the unit as it's currently comprised, review their responsibilities, and to share some of the recently implemented changes to the unit. Here with me today is Commander Dave Cedar, who oversees DOU. The Downtown Operations Unit has focused responsibility on the city's downtown core, which is defined as the approximate one square mile bounded between 7th Avenue to 7th Street, Lincoln Street on the south, north of the railroad tracks, to Moreland Street on the north, as illustrated by the map.