MARCH 3, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC (AP)
A Justice Department investigation will allege sweeping
patterns of discrimination within the Ferguson, Missouri, 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 as soon as Wednesday,
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.
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, according to
the official. 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 Justice Department began the civil rights investigation
following the August shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old,
by a white police officer. That killing set off weeks of protests.
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 department has conducted roughly 20 broad civil rights
investigations of police departments during the tenure of Attorney General Eric
Holder, including Cleveland, Newark, New Jersey and Albuquerque. Most of those
investigations end with the police department agreeing to changes its
practices.