Ferguson fires three, hopes for settlement with Justice Department

[Eugene]

Last edited Fri Mar 6, 2015, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Reuters

Ferguson fires three, hopes for settlement with Justice Department

BY CAREY GILLAM
Fri Mar 6, 2015 1:22pm EST

(Reuters) - Ferguson, Missouri, has fired three city employees and is pursuing a range of other reforms in an effort to negotiate a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department after a federal investigation accused the city of illegal practices targeting African-Americans, the mayor said on Friday.

Three employees working in the police department and municipal court system were terminated due to evidence of "egregious racial bias," documented in emails and detailed in the Justice Department report released on Wednesday, said Mayor James Knowles.

The firings come as the St. Louis suburb of 21,000, which has a mostly black population but a mostly white police force and city leadership, reels from the charges leveled by the Justice Department.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/06/us-usa-missouri-shooting-idUSKBN0M21VC20150306


Original Reuters story at link:

Three Ferguson, Missouri, police employees fired over racist emails: mayor

Fri Mar 6, 2015 12:13pm EST

(Reuters) - Three Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department employees have been fired after being identified as responsible for offensive emails cited in a U.S. Justice Department report that found systemic racial bias in the department, Mayor James Knowles said on Friday.

Knowles did not identify the employees who were fired.

(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City; Writing by David Bailey; Editing by Bill Trott)

[pintobean]

1. Good. k&r /nt

[Archae]

3. Not really.

They'll get hired at some other Podunk cop shop.

It's practically a given.

[pintobean]

5. Maybe, maybe not.

The fact that they're out of Ferguson is a good thing. I don't know why anyone would dispute that.

[atreides1]

26. But this judge is still there!

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/ferguson-judge-who-aggressively-fined-and-jailed-poor-residents-owes-170000-in-unpaid-taxes/

It's not over by a long shot...all the city did was sacrifice the three who were stupid enough to put their names on some e-mails! The judge in the above story was considered to be the driving force behind the fines and imprisonment of American citizens, to raise revenues for Ferguson!

It's like a cancer, all they did was cut out the obvious infection...now they have to go deeper and cut out the disease, and this judge is just the beginning.

[libodem]

2. Woo Hoo

Hallelujah

[HappyMe]

4. I'm glad they got fired.

Now what about the rest of them? They have a way bigger problem than just those 3.

[tularetom]

6. Probably a secretary and a couple of janitors

I doubt the union would sit still for actual cops being fired.

But I also doubt that even this tiny step in the right direction would have happened had it not been for the Justice Dept. report.

Seems like AG Holder grew a pair after he gave notice.

[Submariner]

7. "I will fucking KILL you"

One of the Ferguson cops said to a bystander in front of a TV camera before being led away by a fellow Pig.

I wonder if he was one of the fired pigs.

[pintobean]

9. I believe he was from another department.

I'm thinking St. Ann.

[uponit7771]

13. The cop was from the SLAPD, that kind of attitude towards citizens is allowed there

[pintobean]

19. He was forced to resign.

Two police officers are no longer working at their departments due to their actions during the protests in Ferguson.

A Glendale police officer suspended last Friday after commenting on Facebook that he thought Ferguson protesters should be "put down like rabid dogs," has been fired, officials say.

Meanwhile, a St. Ann police lieutenant resigned Thursday after he pointed an assault rifle at protesters and cursed at them, officials said. Lt. Ray Albers had worked for the department for 20 years.

<snip>

In St. Ann, Albers resigned after the city's board of police commissioners met and recommended to the board of aldermen that he be fired or resign.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/officers-from-st-ann-glendale-off-the-job-after-actions/article_4e9f0ee5-a8ab-5cc8-ab1a-5e8be57612ca.html

[uponit7771]

23. ...cause he was caught, not because he had that attitude. That wasn't the only email that person sen

... no one is going to believe that

[pintobean]

24. Well... yeah. To have cause, he would have

to be caught.

[donco]

8. SAD!

So much negative responses so far in this positive post.

[frylock]

21. people are jaded, and rightly so..

while this is indeed a start, they really need to dissolve the entire department and hit the reset button. dumping 3 of these pigs is going to accomplish very little in the long run.

[Mopar151]

10. 3 underlings, under the bus with 'em!

Somebody has wanted them fired for other reasons. The big failures were well above Officer Wilson's pay grade.

[samsingh]

11. i'm not sure why the good poeple of Ferguson do not elect members more representative of the

community. with a 67% Black population, it would be easy to change the democraphics in city hall and then the police department - regardless of polling fraud.

[uponit7771]

14. Fines prevent voting...

[gollygee]

15. If there's structural racism in place in one system in the city

there's probably racism in that realm too. It might not be that they just don't feel like it but that it's made difficult for them. Even the police issues are involved - if you get stopped every time you walk down the street, you're less likely to walk down the street to register to vote, and then vote.

Also, to be contradictory, maybe they've checked out after being treated half like garbage and half like vending machines for so long. Even though they're a majority they might not be made to feel like it's really their town.

I know there were voter registration tables set up during the protests. More voter registration work would be a great thing.

Edited to add that I see the previous reply explains it 100%. That's how racism works. It isn't just mean people being mean. It's how the structures and institutions work together to keep people oppressed.

[jeff47]

22. The city runs its elections on an odd calendar

that does not coincide with state or federal elections.

[Spazito]

12. I saw the Mayor's press conference after the report was released...

To say I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. It was clear to me his intent is to do the very minimal needed to meet the requirements to keep them out of court. There was no apology, no acknowledgment of the gross racism practiced by the police department and the city as a whole.

Firing the three people who sent the racist emails while leaving the police chief, the city administration employees who demanded more arrests to bump up the city coffers tells me nothing of substance will be done to change the racist culture found by the DOJ if it is up to this Mayor.

[pintobean]

16. He said today that they were setting up meetings with DOJ

to discuss what needs to be done. They can't just start firing everyone without a plan.
I bet they end up contracting a different PD and disband FPD.

[Spazito]

18. This Mayor doesn't believe there is rampant racism in 'his' city...

that was clear when he was interviewed during the protests and even clearer in his press conference. As I said, I believe he will do the very minimum to meet DOJ requirements. Unless the DOJ makes disbanding the FPD a requirement, it's not going to happen, imo.

[libodem]

17. Did I celebrate this yet?

Oh, hell, yeah! I'll take any little piece of discipline as a show of good faith.

I've been devastated since Zimmerman walked. Then the next two extra judicial executions allowed to go un-punished stirred up so much resentment and internal fury, without an acceptable outlet, I've been apoplectic.

This may save me from a stroke or heart attack.

I'll take any little scrap of justice at this point.

[uppityperson]

20. I am glad they fired 3 racists for nasty emails, now keep going and fire the cops who are harassing

people due to their skin color.

[Katashi_itto]

25. Lololol they think they are going to get mercy from DOJ? Hahaha Scorched earth

DOJ will make an example out of them to put fear in the rest of the municipalities.

For years there will be in hushed tones around water coolers "Remember Ferguson"

[mrdmk]

28. That may be the hope, yet it is not comforting

Some of these people will put the problem under wraps, the attitude will still be there.

Race relations in the U.S.A. are complex and being made more difficult by the day. It is just butt ugly...

[etherealtruth]

27. i hope Jennings MO serves as an example ...

.... and the entire Ferguson police force is disbanded. With racism and corruption so deeply ingrained i cannot see how they can correct the problem with the people they have now.