The Department of Justice’s report on the Phoenix police paints a bleak picture of an agency in need of reform, and while it seems more critical than past reports, it might be because it’s the latest.

Since 1994, the Justice Department has opened more than 70 investigations into dozens of law enforcement departments. While some investigative reports turn out longer and others more detailed, they all share common issues.

Most Justice Department investigations begin from the same place: allegations of excessive use of force, according to Allan Jiao, a law professor at Rowan University, who authored a study on Justice Department consent decrees, court-ordered agreements with local jurisdictions that serve as plans to improve policing.

The Justice Department’s findings in Phoenix included excessive use of force, bias against people of color, improper treatment of people with behavioral health issues, violations of the rights of people living on the street, restricting the rights of protestors and failing to adjust policing tactics with children.

The two latest Justice Department reports before Phoenix, on Memphis and Louisville, also included findings of discrimination against people of color and people with behavioral health issues and violations of protestors’ rights.

The Phoenix report was about 40 pages longer than the other two and took the longest to conduct, but there have been other reports that have been more detailed with higher page counts.

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Baltimore’s 2016 report was 20 pages longer than Phoenix’s, and the Louisville report had more findings than Phoenix’s.

Past Justice Department investigations show that it is common for the Justice Department to uncover more problem areas than it initially announced it would investigate, as it did in Phoenix.

The Justice Department said Phoenix police frequently treated children no different than adults and escalated interactions with them, an issue that the department did not initially set out to investigate.

Ultimately, comparing investigations or reports from department to department is just not possible, said Michael White, a criminology professor at Arizona State University.

“The DOJ likely collects data that could be analyzed to determine if one is ‘worse’ than another, but those data are not included with the report. The best we can say is that they all are in a bad state and in need of reform,” White said in an email.

But taken on its own, the Justice Department’s assessment of policing in Phoenix is “very serious and deeply concerning,” he said.

“While we are not able to compare one DOJ investigation to another, the conclusions in the Phoenix investigation paint a picture of a police department in need of real reform,” White said.

It may not be possible to assess the relative severity of the Justice Department’s report about policing in Phoenix, but it did tread new ground.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke mentioned in her briefing about the report that the Justice Department had never before made a finding of violations of the rights of people living on the street.

The Phoenix police unlawfully arrested, ticketed and destroyed the property of people who were unhoused, according to the Justice Department.

Jiao said that in the dozens of investigations he had researched, he had never seen a report referencing the treatment of the homeless population. But, he said, he wasn’t surprised by the novel conclusion.

As the Justice Department’s understanding of policing becomes more complex, the way it conducts investigations evolves, Jiao said.

Researchers, scientists and the Justice Department have developed a more comprehensive understanding of the effects policing has on different populations and that has expanded what they can investigate, he said.

“So they are in a position where they’re able to look into other areas because previously they simply didn’t have the knowledge,” Jiao said.

Reach the reporter at miguel.torres@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How does the DOJ report about Phoenix compare to other investigations?