The shooting in Ferguson, Mo. underscores the need for the police department there as well as many other police forces in the nation to enact long-lasting change to ensure that no one’s civil rights are violated while fighting crime.
At press time, a St. Louis County grand jury handed down a decision not to indict Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Officer
Fortunately, the Justice Department is also investigating. The Justice Department’s civil rights inquiry is focusing on use-of-force, stops and searches and possible patterns of discrimination in the ways that officers in the predominantly White department interact with the majority-Black residents of the community.
A broader federal civil rights review is needed in Ferguson as well other cities to refashion police departments and bring long-lasting change.
In similar cases, broad federal investigations of police departments have dictated changes in how officers carry out the most fundamental of tasks, from searching suspects to making traffic stops.
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