Under the watchful eye of outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice has closely monitored many police departments across the United States and made stern recommendations on patterns and practices of discrimination that the department has uncovered. Six months after the shooting death of Ferguson teenager Michael Brown, a similar report
is about to be released that will harshly critique some forms of discriminatory policing in Ferguson, Missouri.
Overall, this is good news for those who've been fighting for justice on the ground in Ferguson and will hopefully provide a sincere sense of being seen heard for so many people in Missouri who've been abused by police to fund cash-strapped local governments. If, as a result of this upcoming DOJ report, African Americans in Ferguson and around St. Louis are treated more fairly by law enforcement, progress will be made.
Now, all of that stands on its own. It's good. What I'm about to say is not meant to negate the good news of progress, but to lament one essential shortcoming.
These systems, in cities like Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Seattle, Cleveland, and Ferguson, which are cited by the DOJ in exhaustive reports detailing racism, unthinkable brutality, and even unjust murders at the hands of police, are made up of people. People run these systems, manage them, oversee them, guide them, but when the DOJ cites patterns and practices of abuse, the people who committed the actions that created the patterns aren't held responsible in any meaningful way.
They aren't terminated and prohibited from ever serving in law enforcement again.
In spite of clear evidence of constitutional violations, they aren't tried in federal court for any wrongdoing.
Instead, they are asked, sternly, to change. This isn't enough.
Police, in great part, abuse people and abuse the system because they can. They are fully and completely aware that prosecutors will take it easy on them, that their fellow officers will protect them, and that even the federal government, while it may cite them in a report, won't go so far as to have them serve time in prison for their offenses. Even Tim Loehmann, the officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Cleveland resident Tamir Rice—after being told by his first police force that his service was no longer needed due to insubordination, lying, failed gun training, and more—was given the wonderful chance to resign. (This in spite of his superior stating on his record that Loehmann would likely never grow into a decent officer.) As we now know, Loehmann's resignation gave him a chance to start over somewhere else—where he soon killed a child.
Here's the thing: Police should be held to an even higher standard of justice than everyday people. Sworn to uphold the law, police should then be properly punished when they violate it.
11:45 AM PT: It is now being reported that the full DOJ report from Ferguson will be released tomorrow.