Yes, the Ferguson Police Department has been operating based upon racial bias. But will America start listening to the voices of people being discriminated against?
Despite the fact that Darren Wilson was not indicted on the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed young man in Ferguson, MO, a Department of Justice investigation into the practices and procedures of the Ferguson Police Department has found wrongdoing by the department in general.
Huffington Post reports:
The results of the investigation were detailed in a meeting between Ferguson and Justice Department officials on Tuesday. A Ferguson official confirmed to The Huffington Post that city and Justice Department officials were meeting on Tuesday afternoon. The so-called “pattern or practice” investigation of the Ferguson Police Department was announced by the Justice Department in September last year, just weeks after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.
DOJ’s investigation was based on reviews of thousands of pages of records, on-site visits and interviews with members of the Missouri community. It found that police in Ferguson routinely made arrests without probable cause and that African-Americans were more than twice as likely to be searched during vehicle stops but less likely to be found in possession of contraband. It found that 88 percent of documented use-of-force incidents were against African-Americans.
The Huffington Post also reports that racial bias continues from police officers all the way to the municipal court.
Not much of this comes as a surprise to the communities most affected by these discriminatory procedures, but perhaps this announcement will lead to changes that will help prevent further abuses of people’s civil rights.
Read more at HuffPost