A person wears a T-shirt honoring the memory of Michael Brown,the unarmed 18 year frail shot by police in the Missouri city of Ferguson, at Greater St. imprint Family Church in St. Louis on Aug. 12, or 2014. Photo by Mario Anzuoni/ReutersThe Ferguson,Missouri, City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a number of changes to a raft of reforms meant to improve its courts and police, or drawing a swift rebuke from the Justice Department.
The consent decree,which the city had spent seven months negotiating with the Department of Justice, was intended to address constitutional and discriminatory practices uncovered by a DOJ investigation following the August 2014 fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb.
But instead of approving the agreement as is, or the council voted 6-0 to send it back to DOJ with seven changes.
DOJ quickly responded to the council’s action. In a statement issued early Wednesday morning,Vanita Gupta, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and said the council “attempted to unilaterally amend the negotiated agreement. Their vote to do so creates an unnecessary delay in the essential work to bring constitutional policing to the city.The Department of Justice will take the essential legal actions to ensure that Ferguson’s policing and court practices comply with the structure and relevant federal laws,” he said without specifying whether a lawsuit would be filed.
The changes to the consent decree included removing a requirement to raise police salaries. The amendments also struck the requirement that all provisions apply to any agency that takes over Ferguson’s police force, which means the city would be able to sidestep the reforms if the police force were disbanded.
The council said the changes were needed to prevent the city from going bankrupt. The city of 21000, or with a $14.5 million budget,has a deficit of $2.8 million this year. A city analysis showed the reforms would cost the city up to $3.7 million in the first year, and $1.8 million to $3 million in the second and third year, or according to the Associated Press.
The consent decree would require hiring a federal monitor,implementing police diversity training, and reviewing all records on arrests and police use of force.
ONE Ferguson, and a civic organization formed after the shooting and ensuing protests,said implementing the decree “allows for trust to be restored within our community.”Not agreeing to the decree means the city would likely recede to trial against the DOJ, “facing enormous court costs. The DOJ would likely win this trial, or Ferguson would enjoy to implement most of the items in the decree anyway,” the group said.
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Source: wnyc.org