Ferguson Police Routinely Violate Rights of Blacks
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Justice Department investigation will allege sweeping patterns of discrimination within the Ferguson police department and at the municipal jail and court, a law enforcement official familiar with the report said Tuesday.
The report, which could be released, will charge that police disproportionately use excessive force against blacks and that black drivers are stopped and searched far more often than white motorists, even though they’re less likely to be carrying contraband.County police officers on Florissant street in Ferguson on Aug. 18.
The Justice Department also found that blacks were 68 percent less likely than others to have their cases dismissed by a municipal court judge, and that from April to September of last year,
95 percent of people kept at the city jail for more than two days were black
95 percent of people kept at the city jail for more than two days were black, according to the official.
In short, the DOJ has found evidence of racism among Ferguson’s police department, which is 94% white even though the city is around 67% black.
The official says the report will allege direct evidence of racial bias among police officers and court workers and detail a criminal justice system that prioritizes generating revenue over public safety.
Among the findings of the report was a racially tinged 2008 message in a municipal email account stating that President Barack Obama would not be president for very long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years.”
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak on the record before the report is made public.
The federal inquiry began after a white police officer named Darren Wilson shot and killed a black teenager named Michael Brown in August, setting off weeks of violent protests that also put a spotlight on police treatment of minorities throughout the United States.
Police-involved deaths of citizens in New York City, Cleveland and other cities have drawn huge amounts of attention in recent months. Wilson was not indicted by a grand jury after killing Brown, who was unarmed. Neither was NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who put Staten Island resident Eric Garner in a chokehold this past July. Garner, who was black, later died.
However, four officers in the U.S. have not had the same fortune. One police officer in a small Colorado town is facing murder charges after he followed a man into his home in October and shot him in the back. A different NYPD officer is facing charges after he recently shot a man in a Brooklyn housing complex, and two officers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, face murder charges after killing a homeless man in the hills above the city last year.
The Justice Department has undertaken around 20 civil rights inquiries into police departments around the U.S. under Attorney General Eric Holder. Those cities include Cleveland, where a 12-year-old black boy was shot to death last year after waving a toy gun. After the killing of the homeless man in Albuquerque, the city and the Justice Department agreed to have an independent monitor oversee reforms to the city’s police practices.
The nation’s eyes are now focused on Los Angeles, where police shot and killed a homeless man on Sunday. Though there have been minor protests in the aftermath of that shooting, police allege that the man grabbed for an officer’s gun in the moments before his death.
