Cop who hounded student protesters had glowing performance reviews

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What would lead an off-duty Phoenix cop to show up at a student anti-ICE protest with a gun and attempt to bait kids into assaulting him? In the case of Dusten Mullen — the Phoenix police sergeant who is accused of doing just that earlier this year — the answer won’t be found in his personnel file.

In fact, according to Phoenix Police Department files provided in response to a public records request, Mullen’s supervisors did little but gush over his performance each time he came up for a review. The stark contrast — model employee on paper, masked provocateur when off the clock — raises obvious questions about the efficacy of the department’s evaluation processes…

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