Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III on Wednesday evening spent less than 10 minutes responding to the 100-page report documenting numerous instances of racial bias at the Ferguson Police Department and municipal court. He took no questions from the press before leaving the room at the city’s community center.
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division made 13 recommendations for the police department and 13 recommendations for municipal courts – including shifting the city’s “policing to raise revenue” model and adding more training for police officers in de-escalation and avoiding use of force.
Knowles mostly spoke about what the city has already started doing since Aug. 9, when former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown Jr. He said employees have been through diversity training, and the city is the first in the region to establish a civilian oversight board that reviews into the policies and procedures of the police department. The board meets weekly.
The DOJ discovered that several racist emails circulated by police supervisors and court staff, including one email that joked about an abortion by a black woman being a means of crime control. All of the email senders are current employees and almost all of the emails were sent through their official city email accounts and during work hours. None of the employees were disciplined, according to DOJ investigators.
Knowles said that one person was fired shortly after the city’s meeting with the DOJ this afternoon, and two other employees are under investigation.
The report documented several cases where residents have spent hundreds of dollars and days in jail for things as small as trash violations. Knowles said that the municipal court judge has a new docket for “those having trouble with fines.” These residents have an option for different payment plans and alternative sentencing, he said. The city has also capped the amount of revenue that the city can bring in from court fines and fees to 15 percent of city’s budget, which is half of the current legal limit, he said. Any excess will be appropriated for community projects, he said.
“We must do better not only as a city, but also as a state and country,” Knowles said.
For the full report, visit http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report_1.pdf
Read the St. Louis American’s story on the report here: http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_7df9f60c-c2be-11e4-9101-530f09a1373a.html
Follow this reporter on Twitter @rebeccarivas.