Well, that was quick. Looks like the Department of Justice really wasn’t playin’. The DOJ announced Wednesday, February 10, that it is suing the City of Ferguson, Missouri, for what the DOJ is calling a rejection of a consent decree that had been negotiated for the last several months.
"The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for the city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them safe. ... They have waited decades for justice. They should not be forced to wait any longer," [Attorney Loretta] Lynch told a Washington news conference.
The Justice Department complaint accuses Ferguson of routinely violating residents' rights and misusing law enforcement to generate revenue — a practice the government alleged was "ongoing and pervasive."
Ferguson leaders "had a real opportunity here to step forward, and they've chosen to step backward," Lynch said.
The suit was filed one day after Ferguson’s city council announced they would be adding seven amendments to the proposed consent decree. One of those amendments rejected a salary increase for police officers so as not to trigger increases amongst other city employees; the other one rejected the terms of the consent decree outright should Ferguson disband its police force and have to contract policing service with another entity. That rejection also centered around monetary costs.
The DOJ’s head of its Civil Rights Division warned Ferguson in a press release Wednesday morning that they were prepared to haul them into court over this. Obviously, they said what they meant and they meant what they said.