ST. LOUIS — The federal government’s withering report on the Ferguson Police Department issued a stern mandate to city leaders: Reform your law-enforcement practices and rebuild relations with the black community.
It won’t be swift or simple, particularly if the same police chief is in charge and many of the same officers are on the beat. Some residents and civic leaders want to see wholesale changes in leadership or even complete dissolution of the department.
At the very least, experts said Thursday, Ferguson must move quickly to prove it is serious about regaining public trust.
The Justice Department on Wednesday cleared Darren Wilson, the white former Ferguson officer who shot black 18-year-old Michael Brown of federal civil rights charges.
A separate report released simultaneously found patterns of racial profiling, bigotry and profit-driven law enforcement and court practices in the St. Louis County suburb that has come to represent the tension between minorities and police nationwide. Most of Ferguson’s police officers and city leaders are white, but two-thirds of the 21,000 residents are black.
Meanwhile, attorneys for Brown’s parents on Thursday announced plans for a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city and Wilson. They did not say when the complaint would be filed. Brown’s parents attended the news conference announcing the case but did not speak or take questions.
Attorney Anthony Gray said the lawsuit will offer a “more accurate picture” of the fatal confrontation between Brown and the officer.
“He had other options to him,” Gray said of Wilson. “He chose deadly force as his option.” Gray called that choice “unreasonable and unnecessary.”
The Justice Department found that black drivers were more than twice as likely as others to be searched during routine traffic stops. Minority residents bear the burden of fines and court costs expected to generate $3 million this fiscal year. Black residents were more likely to face excessive force from police, often during unwarranted stops.
The report spurred calls from some for St. Louis County or another municipality to take over the department. Others urged Jackson to resign, or for the city to fire him.
“The chief has no credibility,” said state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat who represents Ferguson. “How in the world did the chief of police not know that there was an undercurrent of racism that existed in his police department?”
Other political leaders were more measured in their assessment.
“Facts exposed in the Department of Justice’s report on the Ferguson Police Department are deeply disturbing and demonstrate the urgent need for the reforms I have called for, some of which the General Assembly is now considering, including reforms to municipal courts,” Gov. Jay Nixon said in a statement.
Criminology experts aren’t sure change is possible without new leadership, but they agreed the city must move quickly in response.
“Every hour that goes by without them doing something solidifies in the minds of people in Ferguson and elsewhere that they either don’t know what they’re doing or that they’re dismissive of the DOJ report,” said Remy Cross, a criminology and sociology professor at Webster University in suburban St. Louis.
