I think the Justice Department's report is a fair analysis, and it is right that Ferguson be called upon to implement some significant law enforcement changes or risk lawsuits (or worse, a takeover of law enforcement resposibilities by outside agencies). However, there is one part in the article that I take considerable issue with:
The article refers to "quality of life" crimes. I can't help but wonder if the Justice Department report outlined who would indemnify both the police department and the city for damages sought due to their failure to enforce the laws (out of deference to the African-American community) with regard to these particular crimes? Are we supposed to believe that community policing will make such crimes disappear, when those committing them don't acknowledge their activities as being particularly criminal in nature? or do, but simply don't care enough about their community to change such behavior?There’s a fairly detailed summary of some of the report’s more shocking findings that has been compiled by ABC News, but suffice it to say that there is clear evidence of not only racial bias on a casual basis by members of the Ferguson police force but that the laws of the city seem to be designed to have the harshest impact possible on the city’s poorest residents, the vast majority of whom are African-American. Most of these ordinances don’t target actual violent crime but rather the same sort of “quality of life” crimes that police departments in major cities such as New York City have been more aggressive in enforcing in recent years, most particularly against minorities.
Last edited by Lady Quagga; 03-11-2015 at 10:19 PM. Reason: typo
Fair enough. Check this out.
http://news.yahoo.com/fergusons-cons...130000799.html
Justice Department?
You realize who is in charge with that?
•
I blame Obama.
I've actually read several portions of the 100-plus page report, including many of the incidents cited in the article. As I said before, I agree with the Justice Department's assessment and believe a serious overhaul of Ferguson's law enforcement practices are in order.Originally Posted by pcuser
Hey, people are resigning!
It only took a federal investigation to confirm what citizens already knew.
Funny how the previous Ferguson thread brought out quite a few people's opinion, but this one has quietly gone unnoticed.
And now for the rest of the story;
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editor...f=MoreArticles
http://nypost.com/2015/03/09/ferguso...-bogus-report/
Ooops, my bad...
Justice Department?
You realize who is in charge with that?
•
I blame Obama.
I already covered that angle, Hawgz.
Remember that "fundamentally changing America" thingy?
The opinion pieces you linked really sum up their argument as such: "The reason blacks are disproportionately the focus of and impacted by law enforcement activities in Ferguson is because they commit a preponderance of crimes." But this very argument involves circular reasoning. Furthermore, in focusing on and arguing the statistics, these opinion pieces ignore (or are dismissive of) the acrimonious climate between law enforcement and citizens, as well as the overly-punitive actions of the municipality in its assessing of civil penalties.
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