Justice Department To Issue Ferguson Update

FERGUSON, MO — Police and city officials from Ferguson have been under heightened scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice since the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, three years ago exposed underlying racial issues in the city.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit last year alleging that the city's police department and municipal courts engaged in racially discriminatory practices. At the time, more than 95 percent of the police force was white, in a city that was two-thirds African American.

The city reached an agreement with the Justice Department that included a consent decree to establish programs promoting more positive interactions between police and the communities they serve, and to provide better training for officers.

"Residents of Ferguson have suffered deprivation of their constitutional rights — the rights guaranteed to all Americans — for decades," former Attorney General Loretta Lynch said when she announced the deal last February.

The Justice Department said over the summer than the city was making progress toward eliminating bias in its criminal justice system. They will go into more detail at a meeting with city officials Wednesday night.

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