# Ferguson Mayor Rejects DOJ Report



## Preacher (Mar 9, 2015)

Via ThinkProgress
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/03/07/3631113/ferguson-mayor-refutes-doj-report/
Months after Attorney General Eric Holder launched an investigation of Ferguson Police Department in the wake of Michael Brown’s death, the Department of Justice released a 102-page report detailing systemic race discrimination and abuses of power in the embattled city. But despite the DOJ’s damning findings, the city’s mayor remains unconvinced that widespread problems exist.

“What they’ve shown is that it has happened. Now, how often has that happened? I don’t know. Their assertion is it happens regularly. Based on what? I’m not sure yet,” said Mayor James Knowles III, during an interview Friday. “Do they have a statistic that tells me that they’ve examined every arrest that we’ve made for the past four years and that half, or all, or 10 percent, or 5 percent are unconstitutional or without cause? They do not have that. They have not examined at that level that I know of at this point.”

He also maintains that there is “no proof” of gross civil rights violations.

The mayor is one of many long-standing officials charged with damage control. The city will likely enter an agreement with the DOJ to make systemic reforms, in order to avoid a federal lawsuit. Knowles contends that cleanup efforts are already underway and offer proof that the situation isn’t dire. But the people tasked with implementing changes were heavily involved in establishing the local law enforcement structure. For instance, Judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer imposed steep fines on African Americans  but owes $170,000 in unpaid taxes.

According to the DOJ’s findings, African Americans who make up 67 of Ferguson’s population, were involved in 93 percent of arrests, 85 percent of traffic stops, and received 90 percent of tickets issued by officers, from 2012 to 2014. The report also detailed numerous cases in which officers approached black men and women without probable cause. Officers worked with the courts to issue egregious fines and fees to boost city revenue, at the expense of individuals who could not afford to pay them and were subsequently thrown in jail. Police also used excessive force with impunity.

*On Friday, Holder announced that he will dismantle the police department if need be. *


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## West (Mar 9, 2015)

Thank you for posting this. Fuck yeah.


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## Kim Chee (Mar 9, 2015)

A Mayor rejects, I affirm.


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## EphemeralStick (Mar 10, 2015)

I don't know... this kind of fills me with a sense of doom. Dismantling the police force is fucking awesome but I'm concerned with what the government will put in its place. One could fantasize about them giving power back to the people of Ferguson and being fair but we all know that's not going to happen. in reality they'll most likely end up replacing one evil with another. The fact that he brings up all other police forces in the nation is particularly unsettling. I don't know man. 

Something wicked this way comes.


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## Preacher (Mar 10, 2015)

From the couple of articles I've read about when the DOJ dips their fingers into oversight of a Police Dept, it doesn't make them perfect but does make them a hell of lot better then they were. It's not an overnight quick fix, but a fix none-the-less.

Like if you could make a quadriplegic walk again, they won't run a marathon, but at least they'd get to the store on their own. And for them, that's good enough.

*Los Angeles riots: 20 years later, has LAPD reformed?* http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0425/Los-Angeles-riots-20-years-later-has-LAPD-reformed


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## Preacher (Mar 10, 2015)

And also @EphemeralStick I don't blame you being wary. In this day and age it's surprising to see any kind of victory for the people. For it to turn out to be a hollow victory, just for a headline, that actually goes nowhere would not be unexpected or unsurprising. I'm just sooooo tired of being cynical. I want to have hope again.


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## Preacher (Mar 10, 2015)

March 9 2015 8:01 PM
*State Takes Over Ferguson Court System to Restore Order and Implement Reforms*
By Elliot Hannon






Demetrus Washington protesting the death of Michael Brown on August 14, 2014. 
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images
In the wake of the Justice Department’s scathing report on the bigoted all-around conduct of the Ferguson police department and its corrupt municipal court system, the Missouri state Supreme Court took over the operation of the municipal court, appointing an appeals court judge to hear all of the court’s cases, in an effort to try to restore some semblance of credibility to the legal system in the area. Judge Roy Richter will now be in charge of the municipal court that covers Ferguson and has been given the authority to “to overhaul court policies to ensure defendants' rights are respected and to ‘restore the integrity of the system,’” according to the Associated Press.

"Judge Richter will bring a fresh, disinterested perspective to this court's practices, and he is able and willing to implement needed reforms," Chief Justice Mary Russell said in a written statement. "Extraordinary action is warranted in Ferguson, but the Court also is examining reforms that are needed on a statewide basis."

“Last week the Justice Department called on the city to overhaul its criminal justice system, saying Ferguson had engaged in so many constitutional violations that they could be corrected only by abandoning its entire approach to policing, retraining its employees and establishing new oversight,” the _New York Times _reports. “The report described a city that used its police and courts as moneymaking ventures, a place where officers stopped and handcuffed people without probable cause, hurled racial slurs, used stun guns without provocation and treated anyone as suspicious merely for questioning police actions.”

Sitting Ferguson municipal judge Ronald Brockmeyer resigned his post effective immediately on Monday evening. “Brockmeyer was criticized in the DOJ report for acting as a revenue-generator for the court and the city, helping to bring in millions through ‘creative’ use of fines and fees, while dismissing tickets for himself and friends,” according to the _St. Louis Post-Dispatch__._ “The report also rapped him for instilling fear in traffic defendants, even jailing one man for 10 days because the man refused to answer his questions in court.”

Elliot Hannon is a writer in New York City. Follow him on Twitter.


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## bad company (Mar 20, 2015)

I read that if they did dismantle the city police force,the county sheriffs department would take over for law enforcement.What I would be afraid of,is some form of federal police force.Big slippery slope that would be.


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