Ferguson

Ferguson Police Routinely Violate Rights of Blacks, Justice Dept. Finds

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Source: Probe Of Ferguson Police Uncovers Racist Comment About Obama

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/03/390464149/source-probe-of-ferguson-police-uncovers-racist-comments-about-obama

Ferguson Police Routinely Violate Rights of Blacks, Justice Dept. Finds

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/justice-department-finds-pattern-of-police-bias-and-excessive-force-in-ferguson.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000

wASHINGTON — Ferguson, Mo., is a third white, but the crime statistics compiled in the city over the past two years seemed to suggest that only black people were breaking the law. They accounted for 85 percent of traffic stops, 90 percent of tickets and 93 percent of arrests. In cases like jaywalking, which often hinge on police discretion, blacks accounted for 95 percent of all arrests.

The racial disparity in those statistics was so stark that the Justice Department has concluded in a report scheduled for release on Wednesday that there was only one explanation: The Ferguson Police Department was routinely violating the constitutional rights of its black residents.

The report, based on a six-month investigation, provides a glimpse into the roots of the racial tensions that boiled over in Ferguson last summer after a black teenager, Michael Brown, was fatally shot by a white police officer, making it a worldwide flash point in the debate over race and policing in America. It describes a city where the police used force almost exclusively on blacks and regularly stopped people without probable cause. Racial bias is so ingrained, the report said, that Ferguson officials circulated racist jokes on their government email accounts.

According to a preliminary release, an investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division into the police department in Ferguson, Mo., found a pattern of racial bias between 2012 and 2014 violating the Constitution and federal law.

In a November 2008 email, a city official said Barack Obama would not be president long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years?” Another email included a cartoon depicting African-Americans as monkeys. A third described black women having abortions as a way to curb crime.

“There are serious problems here that cannot be explained away,” said a law enforcement official who has seen the report and spoke on the condition of anonymity because it had not been released yet.

Those findings reinforce what the city’s black residents have been saying publicly since the shooting in August, that the criminal justice system in Ferguson works differently for blacks and whites. A black motorist who is pulled over is twice as likely to be searched as a white motorist, even though searches of white drivers are more likely to turn up drugs or other contraband, the report found.

Minor, largely discretionary offenses such as disturbing the peace and jaywalking were brought almost exclusively against blacks. When whites were charged with these crimes, they were 68 percent more likely to have their cases dismissed, the Justice Department found.

“I’ve known it all my life about living out here,” Angel Goree, 39, who lives in the apartment complex where Mr. Brown was killed, said Tuesday by phone.

Many such statistics surfaced in the aftermath of Mr. Brown’s shooting, but the Justice Department report offers a more complete look at the data than ever before. Federal investigators conducted hundreds of interviews, reviewed 35,000 pages of police records and analyzed race data compiled for every police stop.

The report will most likely force Ferguson officials to either negotiate a settlement with the Justice Department or face being sued by it on charges of violating the Constitution. Under Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the Justice Department has opened more than 20 such investigations into local police departments and issued tough findings against cities including Newark; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Cleveland.

But the Ferguson case has the highest profile of Mr. Holder’s tenure and is among the most closely watched since the Justice Department began such investigations in 1994, spurred by the police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles and the riots that followed.

While much of the attention in Ferguson has been on Mr. Brown’s death, federal officials quickly concluded that the shooting was simply the spark that ignited years of pent-up tension and animosity in the area. The Justice Department is expected to issue a separate report Wednesday clearing the police officer, Darren Wilson, of civil rights violations in the shooting.

It is not clear what changes Ferguson could make that would head off a lawsuit.

The report calls for city officials to acknowledge that the police department’s tactics have caused widespread mistrust and violated civil rights. Ferguson officials have so far been reluctant to do so, particularly as relations between the city and Washington have grown strained.

Mr. Holder was openly critical of the way local officials handled the protests and the investigation into Mr. Brown’s death, and declared a need for “wholesale change” in the police department. Ferguson officials criticized Mr. Holder for a rush to judgment and saw federal officials as outsiders who did not understand their city.

Brian P. Fletcher, a former Ferguson mayor who is running for City Council in next month’s election, said he believed the report was unfair because the Justice Department relied on incomplete data. For example, he said, the racial disparity could be explained not by bias but by the large number of black people from surrounding towns who visit Ferguson to shop.

“I know to some degree we’re already on the right track because we’ve already modified our courts to make it fairer,” he said.

For Mr. Holder, the case has been deeply personal. He spoke about conversations he had as a boy with his father about what to do when stopped by the police. And he described his own experience as the victim of racial profiling. Such comments drew the ire of police groups who said Mr. Holder, the nation’s first black attorney general, was fueling anti-police sentiment in minority neighborhoods. Mr. Holder has stood by his remarks, which have since been echoed by James Comey, the F.B.I. director.

The report is due to be released in Mr. Holder’s final days in office. He announced his retirement last year and plans to leave as soon as the nominee to succeed him, Loretta E. Lynch, is confirmed in the Senate.

In pushing for police reforms, the Justice Department typically does not call for personnel changes, such as the firing of a police chief. Instead, it typically seek institutional changes, such as mandated training, efforts to diversify the police force and more outside oversight. In many cities, the two sides agree on a federal monitor to ensure the police department is complying.

Ms. Goree said she was skeptical that changes would be made without the city’s being sued.

“If the Justice Department doesn’t take it to the full extent of the law,” she said, “it’s not going to be one iota of a change.”

Ferguson Police Routinely Violate Rights of Blacks, Justice Dept. Finds

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/justice-department-finds-pattern-of-police-bias-and-excessive-force-in-ferguson.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000

Ferguson Police Department May Fold Due To DOJ Probe

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/03/doj-ferguson-police-cost_n_6793310.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

from Ferguson Report: Rampant Racism and Other Scathing Findings From Probe

http://news.yahoo.com/ferguson-report-rampant-racism-other-scathing-findings-probe-230500693.html

The Department of Justice today released its investigation of the Ferguson police, which found a pattern and practice of discriminatory policing.

“As detailed in our searing report … this investigation found a community that was deeply polarized; a community where deep distrust and hostility often characterized interactions between police and area residents,” said US Attorney General Eric Holder. “A community where local authorities consistently approached law enforcement not as a means for protecting public safety, but as a way to generate revenue. A community where both policing and municipal court practices were found to disproportionately harm African American residents. A community where this harm frequently appears to stem, at least in part, from racial bias – both implicit and explicit. And a community where all of these conditions, unlawful practices, and constitutional violations have not only severely undermined the public trust, eroded police legitimacy, and made local residents less safe –- but created an intensely charged atmosphere where people feel under assault and under siege by those charged to serve and protect them.”

The conclusions come nearly seven months after a confrontation with officer Darren Wilson left 18-year-old Michael Brown dead.

In the wake of the controversial slaying of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, Brown’s death reignited a national debate over race in America and sparked protests across the country. Separately today, the DOJ announced that Wilson will not be charged in Brown’s death.

Here is a sampling of some of the 100-page report’s most scathing findings:

POLICING PRACTICES

The investigation has found that the Ferguson police department “routinely” stopped African American drivers without reasonable suspicion, arrested them without probable cause, and used unreasonable force against them. The police actions, the investigation found, were “unconstitutional,” and amounted to a “pattern and practice” of unlawful conduct.

“Conducting stops without reasonable suspicion and arrests without probable cause” — both violations of the Fourth Amendment, according to the DOJ.

RACIAL BIAS

The report found that racial bias and a desire to generate revenue drove much of the law enforcement efforts in Ferguson. African Americans accounted for 85 percent of the vehicle stops, 90 percent of the citations, and 93 percent of the arrests, despite making up only 67 percent of the population. “African Americans are more than twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during vehicle stops,” the report found, “but are found in possession of contraband 26 percent less often than white drivers.”

Harmful municipal court and police practices are due, at least in part, to intentional discrimination as “demonstrated by direct evidence of racial bias and stereotyping about African Americans by certain Ferguson police and municipal court officials,” according to the DOJ.

USE OF FORCE

When it comes to use of force by the police, the report found that nearly 90 percent of the documented force cases involved African Americans. Senior DOJ officials said that they found 161 excessive force cases filed against the police from 2010 to 2014, but only one had been “founded.” No officers were disciplined for excessive force in that time period. And, in every canine bite incident for which racial information is available, the investigation found, the person bitten was an African- American.

26 REMEDIES

In summary, investigators say that even before the shooting of Micheal Brown, years of biased and unlawful policing practices has eroded community trust.

The Department of Justice has recommended 26 steps the city should take to start correcting these longstanding issues. Among them:

Implement measures to reduce police bias and its impact on police behavior
Implement a robust system of community policing
Stop search, ticking and arrest practices, and focus on community protection
Change use of force practices and encourage de-escalation and use of minimal force
Change response to students to avoid criminalizing youth
Improve and increase training generally
Increase civilian involvement in police decision making
Improve officer supervision
Develop mechanisms to more effectively respond to allegations of officer misconduct
Change Court procedures to simplify processes
Reform trial procedures to ensure full compliance with due process
Stop using warrants as a means of collecting owed fines and fees

At a briefing about the results of the investigation, top DOJ officials – who asked not be named – said that some of the recommendations are already being implemented, and they believed Ferguson officials had to ability to change. If the city does not make the recommended changes, these officials said that the Justice Department would not hesitate to file suit against the city.

Ferguson judge criticized as revenue generator who helped bring in millions

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/ferguson-judge-criticized-as-revenue-generator-who-helped-bring-in/article_82ee6ece-248a-5073-a9f9-a3eecbaf073b.html

Three years ago, a Ferguson City Council member raised concerns about Municipal Court Judge Ronald Brockmeyer: He didn’t listen to testimony, review reports, examine the defendants’ criminal history or allow witnesses to testify before rendering a verdict, the council member said, suggesting Brockmeyer not be reappointed.

City Manager John Shaw acknowledged that Brockmeyer’s work had received mixed reviews.

But there was something more important at stake.

“It goes without saying the city cannot afford to lose any efficiency in our courts, nor experience any decrease in our fines and forfeitures,” Shaw said.

The story takes up a single paragraph in a 102-page blistering report that depicts the machinery of small town justice preying on its most vulnerable residents and routinely violating constitutional rights for the purpose of raising money.

While the Justice Department focused on Ferguson, it is clear that the same issues are playing out in other St. Louis County municipalities.

A Post-Dispatch review of state and national data shows that St. Louis County is a national hot spot for ticketing, generating more than $52 million a year for its 90 municipalities, 81 courts, and 63 police departments. That money keeps small cities afloat and supports a cottage industry of lawyers who operate the municipal courts.

St. Louis County has 17 percent of the state population but in 2014 raised 34 percent of the revenue generated by all municipal courts in the state.

Critics say it is a system with little oversight, resulting in cities turning to courts to raise revenue rather than to ensure public safety.

Javad Khazaeli, a St. Louis lawyer who frequently defends clients in the municipal courts, said he was glad to see the Justice Department investigate Ferguson but was concerned people might not grasp how widespread the problems are.

“I don’t want people to think this is only a Ferguson issue,” said Khazaeli, of Khazaeli Wyrsch Stock LLC. “This is happening in dozens of municipal courts all across the region. It’s no secret at all that the many municipalities in St. Louis County see the courts as their own personal ATMs. They incentivize the police to fine people first rather than to do what’s in the best interest of their citizens and their communities.”

NATIONAL HOT SPOT

There is no perfect accounting of which areas in the United States have the most traffic cases. In the most complete data available, the National Center for State Courts tracks caseloads in state and municipal courts that handle traffic cases, noncriminal ordinance violations and parking tickets.

The center’s data put Missouri, with 36 cases per 100 residents, second only to New Jersey. (New Jersey’s numbers are bloated with parking tickets, of which Missouri doesn’t have nearly as many.)

And the state’s traffic caseload is overwhelmingly concentrated in St. Louis County, according to Missouri’s state court system. The county has one-sixth of the state’s population but more than one-third of its traffic cases.

Even when traffic cases alone are considered, 53 municipalities in St. Louis County exceeded that average of 36 cases per 100 residents.

Thirty-seven municipalities doubled that rate; 24 tripled it, and 17 quadrupled it.

On Friday, at a meeting of the Missouri Bar Association, Gov. Jay Nixon called on municipalities to eliminate their “profit motive.”

He threw his support behind a proposal in the Legislature that would reduce the amount of revenue that cities could raise through court fines and fees.

But he said that was only a first step.

“The problems in our municipal courts extend far beyond simply the amount of revenue our municipal courts take in,” Nixon said.

POLITICAL APPOINTEES

In the circuit courts in Missouri’s six urban counties, including St. Louis County, judges are selected by the governor from a panel of three qualified applicants selected by a nonpartisan commission.

Voters decide periodically whether to retain judges. Prosecuting attorneys are elected by popular vote.

It’s different in municipal courts.

Municipal judges and prosecutors wield all the power of their counterparts in circuit court: They order arrests, determine guilt or innocence, punish. But they are hired by — and serve at the will of — municipal officials who are counting on them to keep revenue coming in.

Unlike state courts, municipal courts operate on their own, virtually without oversight. Judges and prosecutors have nearly unlimited discretion to dismiss or amend cases.

St. Louis County Presiding Judge Maura McShane, who in theory oversees the municipal courts, told protesters last fall her ability to make single-handed changes to the municipal courts is limited. She can’t hire or fire and has no ability to transfer cases away from problematic courts, she said. She also can’t force the courts to file their annual financial reports with the state, as the law requires.

Michael Downey, a St. Louis attorney who counsels lawyers on ethical issues, said having judges in a revenue-raising role raises ethical concerns.

“It absolutely compromises a judge’s role if they are part of the revenue production system,” he said. “The judge’s determination of an appropriate penalty should not be influenced by some sort profit revenue goal.”

FAVORS

In St. Louis County, where judges and prosecutors often work in multiple municipalities, politics and court discretion create a cozy environment and potential conflicts of interest.

In the Justice Department report, Brockmeyer was criticized for having his own ticket dismissed by Ferguson prosecutor Stephanie Karr, who also works for a nearby municipality where Brockmeyer was ticketed.

Like other players in the municipal court system, Brockmeyer plays multiple roles, working as a judge or prosecutor in five different municipalities and representing defendants.

It’s not uncommon for him to appear as a defense attorney in a court where the judge might be someone who just represented a client before him in Ferguson.

For example, consider Brockmeyer’s dealings with fellow lawyer Donnell Smith. In Dellwood, where Smith is judge, Brockmeyer works as the prosecutor. Brockmeyer has also represented clients in Berkeley, where Smith is prosecutor, and Smith has represented defendants in Ferguson, where Brockmeyer is judge.

Khazaeli, a former prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said he was appalled when he began working in St. Louis to discover how often such role reversals take place.

“I have never seen a system like this before,” he said.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY?

Like other North County municipalities, Ferguson turned increasingly to its courts for revenue as property taxes and other sources of income declined.

The city’s municipal court grew from $1.38 million in fines and fees in 2010 to a projected $3.09 million this year, according to the Justice Department report.

Brockmeyer was a key part of that increase. He created additional fees, such as a $50 fine issued every time an arrest warrant was cleared and a fine that increased each time an individual failed to appear in court, according to the Justice Department report. The civil rights investigators noted many of the fines on the list “are widely considered abusive and may be unlawful.”

They also pointed out that Brockmeyer had admitted to adding charges and additional fines when a defendant challenged a citation.

Brockmeyer’s treatment of defendants in court, the report said, led to a widespread fear that if they appeared and couldn’t pay their fine in full, they’d be jailed. In one case, Brockmeyer held a man in contempt and jailed him for 10 days for refusing to answer questions, according to the report.

Ferguson court and city officials frequently said traffic offenders brought problems on themselves and should take personal responsibility.

On Friday, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said the city would look into the allegations against its judge, but said he didn’t know whether Brockmeyer could be removed during his appointed term.

At the same time Brockmeyer increased court fines and fees and jailed defendants, he didn’t pay his own income taxes, according to property records.

Brockmeyer and his wife, Amy, have six federal tax liens filed against their St. Charles County property totaling roughly $169,000 from 2010 through 2013. Three liens from 2012, of about $63,000, have been paid, according to the St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds office.

Brockmeyer did not return phone calls or emails seeking comment on his tax liens on Friday. He has also declined to comment on the Justice Department report.

In previous interviews, Brockmeyer has defended the system, arguing that his multiple roles gave him a valuable perspective.

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Ferguson judge behind aggressive fines policy owes $170,000 in unpaid taxes

Ronald J Brockmeyer, who is accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and associates, was a driving force behind using fines and fees to generate revenue

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/06/ferguson-judge-owes-unpaid-taxes-ronald-brockmeyer

The judge in Ferguson, Missouri, who is accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues while inflicting a punishing regime of fines and fees on the city’s residents, also owes more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes.

Ronald J Brockmeyer, whose court allegedly jailed impoverished defendants unable to pay fines of a few hundred dollars, has a string of outstanding debts to the US government dating back to 2007, according to tax filings obtained by the Guardian from authorities in Missouri.

Brockmeyer, 70, was this week singled out by Department of Justice investigators as being a driving force behind Ferguson’s strategy of using its municipal court to aggressively generate revenues. The policy has been blamed for a breakdown in relations between the city’s overwhelmingly white authorities and residents, two-thirds of whom are African American.

Investigators found Brockmeyer had boasted of creating a range of new court fees, “many of which are widely considered abusive and may be unlawful”. A city councilman opposing the judge’s reappointment was warned “switching judges would/could lead to loss of revenue”.

Brockmeyer, who has been Ferguson’s municipal court judge for 12 years, serves simultaneously as a prosecutor in two nearby cities and as a private attorney. Legal experts said his potentially conflicting interests illustrate a serious problem in the region’s judicial system. Brockmeyer, who reportedly earns $600 per shift as a prosecutor, said last year his dual role benefited defendants. “I see both sides of it,” he said. “I think it’s even better.”

While Brockmeyer owes the US government $172,646 in taxes, his court in Ferguson is at the centre of a class-action federal lawsuit that alleges Ferguson repeatedly “imprisoned a human being solely because the person could not afford to make a monetary payment”.

“Judge Brockmeyer not being incarcerated is a perfect illustration of how we should go about collecting debt from people who owe it,” said Thomas Harvey, the director of Arch City Defenders, one of the legal non-profits representing plaintiffs who were jailed in Ferguson.

Brockmeyer did not respond to multiple emails and telephone calls requesting comment. Federal tax liens filed against Brockmeyer by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) state that he has tens of thousands of dollars in overdue personal income taxes from joint filings with his wife, Amy. He also owes tens of thousands in employer taxes for his law firm and an annual tax paid by employers to fund benefits for the unemployed. Since November 2013, Brockmeyer has paid off another three overdue tax bills totalling $64,599.

He owns three properties in the St Louis area and accompanied his family on a vacation to Walt Disney World in Florida in 2013.

The judge was also named among a group of white Ferguson officials found by Department of Justice investigators to be writing off citations for themselves and friends while punishing residents for similar offences. Another of these officials, court clerk Mary Ann Twitty, was fired by the city in connection with racist emails also uncovered by the inquiry.

The report said Brockmeyer agreed to “take care” of a speeding ticket for a senior Ferguson police officer in August 2014, and had a red light camera ticket he received himself from the nearby city of Hazelwood dismissed in October 2013.

“Even as Ferguson city officials maintain the harmful stereotype that black individuals lack personal responsibility – and continue to cite this lack of personal responsibility as the cause of the disparate impact of Ferguson’s practices – white city officials condone a striking lack of personal responsibility among themselves and their friends,” the Justice Department investigators said, in a scathing report on the city’s administration.

The class action lawsuit filed against Ferguson earlier this year alleges that the city violates the constitutional rights of defendants imprisoned over outstanding tickets and minor offences. It seeks compensation and asks a federal judge to force Ferguson to halt the practices.

“Once locked in the Ferguson jail, impoverished people owing debts to the city endure grotesque treatment. They are kept in overcrowded cells; they are denied toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap; they are subjected to the constant stench of excrement and refuse in their congested cells [and] they are surrounded by walls smeared with mucus and blood,” said one passage of the lawsuit, which went on to name several more hardships.

One of the plaintiffs – Roelif Carter, a 62-year-old disabled military veteran – alleges he was arrested and jailed for three days in Ferguson in 2010 after trying to pay the $100 monthly instalment for his outstanding traffic fines on the second day of the month rather than the first, when it was due. While living in “constant fear” he was arrested and jailed three more times in the following years when he was unable to pay the monthly charge, the lawsuit alleges.

“Most debtors in this country are not rounded up and jailed in brutal conditions,” said Alec Karakatsanis, a co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law and a lead attorney on the lawsuit. “But if you happen to owe your debts to a municipality in St Louis County, they are willing to let you languish there on a ransom.”