Checkmite
Skepticifimisticalationist
According to the Justice report released today, Ferguson's police department has a long pattern of discrimination against African-American residents.
According to the investigation, by comparison to their percentage of the population, African-Americans were disproportionately more likely to be stopped by FPD officers for any reason, disproportionately more likely to be arrested during a stop regardless of the reason for the stop, disproportionately more likely to be charged with certain incidental offenses (like "manner of walking in roadway" or "failure to comply"), disproportionately more likely to have additional appended charges over a single incident, disproportionately more likely to be subject to use of force and police dogs, and the list goes on. Every single incident that the DOJ found of FPD loosing dogs on suspects, the suspect was black.
The investigation found cases of sometimes spurious charges, such as for "not wearing a seatbelt" while sitting in a parked vehicle; one man was charged with "making a false declaration" for identifying himself to a police officer as "Mike" (his legal first name was Michael).
Investigation also found a culture of racism-promotion, with police and other city officials exchanging emails joking for instance about how black women having abortions deserve to be rewarded for "helping prevent crime", numerous anti-Obama emails that specifically remarked on the president's race, and so forth.
More details on the contents of the report at the link.
According to the investigation, by comparison to their percentage of the population, African-Americans were disproportionately more likely to be stopped by FPD officers for any reason, disproportionately more likely to be arrested during a stop regardless of the reason for the stop, disproportionately more likely to be charged with certain incidental offenses (like "manner of walking in roadway" or "failure to comply"), disproportionately more likely to have additional appended charges over a single incident, disproportionately more likely to be subject to use of force and police dogs, and the list goes on. Every single incident that the DOJ found of FPD loosing dogs on suspects, the suspect was black.
The investigation found cases of sometimes spurious charges, such as for "not wearing a seatbelt" while sitting in a parked vehicle; one man was charged with "making a false declaration" for identifying himself to a police officer as "Mike" (his legal first name was Michael).
Investigation also found a culture of racism-promotion, with police and other city officials exchanging emails joking for instance about how black women having abortions deserve to be rewarded for "helping prevent crime", numerous anti-Obama emails that specifically remarked on the president's race, and so forth.
More details on the contents of the report at the link.
