WASHINGTON, D.C. – There will be no federal charges brought against Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, who shot teenager Michael Brown last summer, but the Justice Department has declared a pattern of civil rights violations by the Ferguson Police Department.
The Justice Department announced the findings of its two civil rights investigations related to Ferguson, Missouri, today. The Justice Department found that the Ferguson Police Department (FPD) engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the First, Fourth, and 14th Amendments of the Constitution. The Justice Department also announced that the evidence examined in its independent, federal investigation into the fatal shooting of Michael Brown does not support federal civil rights charges against Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson.
“As detailed in our report, this investigation found a community that was deeply polarized, and where deep distrust and hostility often characterized interactions between police and area residents,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “Our investigation showed that Ferguson police officers routinely violate the Fourth Amendment in stopping people without reasonable suspicion, arresting them without probable cause, and using unreasonable force against them. Now that our investigation has reached its conclusion, it is time for Ferguson’s leaders to take immediate, wholesale and structural corrective action. The report we have issued and the steps we have taken are only the beginning of a necessarily resource-intensive and inclusive process to promote reconciliation, to reduce and eliminate bias, and to bridge gaps and build understanding.”
“While the findings in Ferguson are very serious and the list of needed changes is long, the record of the Civil Rights Division’s work with police departments across the country shows that if the Ferguson Police Department truly commits to community policing, it can restore the trust it has lost,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division. “We look forward to working with City Officials and the many communities that make up Ferguson to develop and institute reforms that will focus the Ferguson Police Department on public safety and constitutional policing instead of revenue. Real community policing is possible and ensures that all people are equal before the law, and that law enforcement is seen as a part of, rather than distant from, the communities they serve.”
Attorney General Holder first announced the comprehensive pattern or practice investigation into the Ferguson Police Department after visiting that community in August 2014, and hearing directly from residents about police practices and the lack of trust between FPD and those they are sworn to protect. The investigation focused on the FPD’s use of force, including deadly force; stops, searches and arrests; discriminatory policing; and treatment of detainees inside Ferguson’s city jail by Ferguson police officers.
In the course of its pattern or practice investigation, the Civil Rights Division reviewed more than 35,000 pages of police records; interviewed and met with city, police and court officials, including the FPD’s chief and numerous other officers; conducted hundreds of in-person and telephone interviews, as well as participated in meetings with community members and groups; observed Ferguson Municipal Court sessions, and; analyzed FPD’s data on stops, searches and arrests. It found that the combination of Ferguson’s focus on generating revenue over public safety, along with racial bias, has a profound effect on the FPD’s police and court practices, resulting in conduct that routinely violates the Constitution and federal law. The department also found that these patterns created a lack of trust between the FPD and significant portions of Ferguson’s residents, especially African Americans.
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The federal criminal investigation into the fatal shooting of Michael Brown sought to determine whether the evidence from the events that led to Brown’s death was sufficient to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Wilson’s actions violated federal civil rights laws that make it a federal crime for someone acting with law enforcement authority to willfully violate a person’s civil rights. As part of the investigation, federal authorities reviewed physical, ballistic, forensic, and crime scene evidence; medical reports and autopsy reports, including an independent autopsy performed by the U.S. Department of Defense Armed Forces Medical Examiner Service; Wilson’s personnel records; audio and video recordings; internet postings, and; the transcripts from the proceedings before the St. Louis County grand jury. Federal investigators interviewed purported eyewitnesses and other individuals claiming to have relevant information. Federal prosecutors and agents re-interviewed dozens of witnesses to evaluate their accounts and obtain more detailed information. FBI agents independently canvassed more than 300 residences to locate and interview additional witnesses.
The standard of proof is the same for all criminal cases: that the defendant committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. However, unlike state laws, federal criminal civil rights statutes do not have the equivalent of manslaughter or a statute that makes negligence a crime. Federal statutes require the government to prove that Officer Wilson used unreasonable force when he shot Michael Brown and that he did so willfully, that is, he shot Brown knowing it was wrong and against the law to do so. After a careful and deliberative review of all of the evidence, the department has determined that the evidence does not establish that Darren Wilson violated the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute. The family of Michael Brown was notified earlier today of the department’s findings.
Due to the high interest in this case, the department took the rare step of publicly releasing the closing memo in the case. The report details, in over 80 pages, the evidence, including evidence from witnesses, the autopsies and physical evidence from the analysis of the DNA, blood, shooting scene and ballistics. The report also explains the law as developed by the federal courts and applies that law to the evidence.
Woman calls Ferguson PD to report domestic disturbance; police arrive and arrest her for her boyfriend living there pic.twitter.com/8tQP3k7ogt
— “Mark Berman” (@markberman) March 4, 2015
I can’t understand why Brown is always pictured as a good little school boy, as opposed to the Afro American gang banger that’s hiding behind his communion smock. Like all gang bangers, he was a thug, doing his thing until his number came up.
Al I hate to bring this up, I really do BUT if he was a white gangbanger it would never had made the news. It’s all about division.
Whites don’t have the equivalent of Sharpton, Eric (the gun runner) Holder, and the prez. Just waiting to spring into action and use the words, racial hate crime.
Of course there were no charges. The whole damn thing was a farce by Holder and Sharpton. The officer was doing his job and the punk that was killed was a criminal and a thief. Holder, Sharpton and Obama should be made to pay for all the damage they caused.
financed by soros.
I’m surprised you didn’t say “funded by ISIL” Did you read this part?
The Justice Department found that the Ferguson Police Department (FPD) engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the First, Fourth, and 14th Amendments of the Constitution.
@bodacious-did you read this part. It was a complete set up by Holder and really means nothing He was completely predudiced in his investigations and it will never hold up under appeal.
The fact that he called them isil means he makes no decisions for himself, he is told what to think and say by the liberal gods. Not only that but he is openly denying israels rights.
the point here is that the Ferguson police department has numerous violations and numerous questionable actions detailed in the report. It is not a clean department and has much to make right as it moves forward. I don’t know if the shooting of Michael Brown was justified or not. I accept the ruling made by the report but I also read that it needs to fix many things. Don’t be a lemming.
@bodacious-The point is the two officers involved were fired by the police department before the investigation even started. They policed their own department without any help from Holder. This was nothing but a witch hunt by the Black Panther.
Hear the news from Ferguson today? Police chief, city manager, 2 police officers, a city clerk and a municipal judge all resigned because they sent racially charged emails on their (the city) computers. I don’t like to see this and I am not cheering for the decisions these people had to make, but they did it. I would imagine that many, many law enforcement agencies and cities are all in need of a little re-structuring.
Well Said!!