Ferguson Officer Cleared, City Lambasted by DOJ

Although the Department of Justice decided not to charge the officer involved in the Ferguson, MO killing of an unarmed black male, the DOJ lambasted the entire criminal justice system in the town.

With regard to the officer, the DOJ, like the grand jury and D.A. concluded that versions  "of

events that sharply conflicted with Mr. Wilson’s were largely inconsistent with forensic evidence or with the witnesses’ previous statements, the report said. And in some cases, witnesses whose accounts supported Mr. Wilson said they had been afraid to come forth or tell the truth because they feared reprisals from the enraged community." The last sentence is extremely disturbing.  The presumption of guilt that often attaches to some officers seems to be encouraged by members of the community.  I wonder if in the past, large numbers of whites refused to speak up on behalf of a black suspect, because they feared community retribution.

With regard to the city, the "Justice Department on Wednesday called on Ferguson, Mo., to overhaul its criminal justice system, declaring that the city 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.

In one example after another, 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 tactics."