Jimmy Jenkins/KJZZ

Police line keeping supporters and protesters separate.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona is suing the Phoenix Police Department for what it says is a breach of the state’s public records law.

Kathy Brody is the ACLU chapter’s legal director.

“The only recourse that a public record requester has if the agency refuses to turn over those records is to bring a lawsuit," Brody said.

The requests include video and police communications from Aug. 22, when police dispersed protesters after President Trump’s rally by using tear gas and pepper spray.

Phoenix police sent a letter last week saying a decision on the ACLU’s requests, along with others, would not be made until after the city’s review was finished in the coming weeks.

Even then, officials did not promise the records.

Brody says that is unacceptable.

“We don’t want to have a dialogue about the records," Brody said, quoting the letter. "We want the records that we requested that we’re entitled to, and we think the public deserves to know now, not after the action report.”

“That government transparency that the law provides is only as good as the government’s compliance with that law. And in this case the Phoenix Police Department does a very, very poor job of complying with the public records law.”

Police say in a statement they are reviewing "an immense amount of records" around the event, and that it has always been their intention to release the review and associated records.

They hope to finish the report in the coming weeks.