Missouri: Dept Of Justice Finds Ferguson Police Engaged In "Racially Biased Enforcement"

Ferguson, Missouri

USA Today reports that the Department of Justice has found the Ferguson Police Department engaged in racially biased policing:

A Justice Department review has found that the troubled Ferguson Police Department engaged in a pattern of racially biased enforcement during suspect stops and used unreasonable force against a disproportionate number of African American suspects, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the findings

In 88% of cases in which Ferguson police documented the use of force, that force was used against African Americans, according to the official who is not authorized to comment publicly. In addition, in all 14 canine bite incidents for which information about the race of the suspect was available, the person bitten was African American.

The Justice findings, while not unexpected, comes six months after the fatal shooting of a black teenager by then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.