President Petersen Recognizes Arizona's Law Enforcement During National Police Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                 

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

President Petersen Recognizes Arizona's Law Enforcement

During National Police Week

PHOENIX, ARIZONA— During this National Police Week, Senate President Warren Petersen is recognizing the men and women in law enforcement who selflessly serve Arizona's communities and safeguard law-abiding citizens from criminal activity.

"Our police officers put their lives on the line every single day to ensure the safety of our neighborhoods. Their families never know what dangers they'll face once they clock-in and whether they'll return home safe and sound at the end of their shift," said President Petersen. "Because of their service and sacrifice, we can enjoy our God-given freedoms in every walk of life around our great state. For these reasons, the men and women behind the badge have our eternal respect and gratitude."

President Petersen and Senate Republicans have taken strategic action over the past several years to support the men and women in law enforcement in multiple ways. Earlier this spring, President Petersen met with members of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and sent a follow-up letter to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon regarding the Biden Administration's disturbingly biased and outright factually inaccurate report against the Phoenix Police Department. Efforts to force the agency into a consent decree would have held them captive to a federal bureaucrat for years. Following President Petersen's request to rescind the report, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order to reverse the DOJ's stranglehold of local police departments around the country, including the Phoenix Police Department, by directing the Attorney General to "review all ongoing federal consent decrees, out-of-court agreements, and post-judgment orders to which a State or local law enforcement agency is a party and modify, rescind, or move to conclude such measures that unduly impede the performance of law enforcement functions."

"President Trump wholeheartedly supports the men and women in blue, and his swift actions are a testament to that," said President Petersen. "Arizona is extremely thankful to the Trump Administration for its immediate attention to the federal government's unconstitutional interference with local police departments that threatened the safety and security of our communities. It's time to take the handcuffs off our police officers and let them do their jobs!"

In 2023, the Arizona Legislature passed SCR 1006, sponsored by Senate Republicans, which became the "Back the Blue Act" Proposition 311 on the November 2024 ballot. Arizona voters overwhelmingly supported the measure, which creates a State Death Benefit of $250,000 to be paid to the family of first responders killed in the line of duty. It also increases criminal penalties for assaulting first responders. Unfortunately, when the measure was up consideration in the Arizona Senate, all Senate Democrats voted against it.

Most recently, Senate Republicans championed legislation signed into law this week to increase benefits for law enforcement by allowing part-time officers to participate in the pension program known as the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS).

"Arizona Republican lawmakers will continue to back the blue and support Arizona's law enforcement families," said President Petersen. "We will do everything in our power to show our gratitude to these men and women by providing them with the resources they and their families deserve."

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For more information, contact:

Kim Quintero

Director of Communications | Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus

kquintero@azleg.gov