Ferguson Police Department (Missouri)

Police organization

The Ferguson Police Department includes 72 personnel including 54 commissioned officers and 18 civilian support staff. The officers are all police academy graduates and are certified peace officers by the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

Three supervisors as well as the chief are graduates of the FBI National Academy. Many officers have bachelors or advanced degrees. All officers participate in advanced continuous training in numerous areas of law enforcement.

In addition to uniformed patrols of policemen and criminal investigation detectives, the department is supplemented with 4 K-9 officers, bicycle patrol, and a traffic unit. The department has its own correctional facility, maintains evidence and property, and on-site indoor firearms range.

The department's relationship with the community is enhanced by commitment of personnel to the positions of community relations, business liaison, N.E.T., Drug Abuse Resistance Education ("DARE"), and school resource officers.

Vehicles

Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor Limited numbers still active

Weapons

Body cameras

In late August 2014, Ferguson police officers began wearing body-mounted video cameras donated by Safety Visions and Digital Ally. Fifty cameras were donated and made available to each officer.

On December 1, 2014 President Barack Obama announced that the federal government will spend US$75 million on body cameras for law enforcement officers, as one of the measures taken in response to the shooting in Ferguson.

2009 Henry Davis incident

In September 2009, officers mistakenly arrested Henry Davis based on an outstanding warrant for another man with the same name. While in custody, Davis was allegedly beaten by four officers. Davis was charged with "property damage" supposedly for bleeding on the officers' uniforms. Davis was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Davis later pleaded guilty to two reduced charges and filed a lawsuit against the officers and the department. The lawsuit was dismissed. On July 28, 2015, an appeals court ruled that Davis could continue his excessive-force suit against the Ferguson Police Department.

Hiring issue

Between July 2009 and December 2010, the department hired a police officer who had previously been fired from the St. Louis County Police Department after being accused of assaulting two minors, one a 12-year-old girl, with his service weapon. The officer was acquitted of the charges in 2010. A state commission found the man had committed "a criminal act".

2011 death of Jason Moore

In September 2011, a Ferguson police officer used a TASER device on Jason Moore, a man who had a mental illness. After Moore ran down the street yelling and pounding on cars, the officer used the TASER device on him. When Moore tried to get up from the ground, the officer used the TASER twice more and Moore then stopped breathing. He died of a heart attack. His family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Ferguson Police Department for the death of Mr. Moore. On November 4, 2016, a federal jury awarded $3 million to the family of Mr. Moore. Although the city initially appealed the jury verdict, they later agreed on February 1, 2017 to pay $3 million to the family of Mr. Moore to settle the lawsuit. This settlement ends the case.

2014 shooting of Michael Brown and unrest

On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson while on duty. Chief of Police Tom Jackson claimed in a news conference that Brown had been a suspect in a "strong-arm" robbery, but later stated that the robbery was not connected to Officer Wilson's interaction with Brown. The later Department of Justice investigation later described Officer Wilson as having heard the description of the robbery and suspect before he encountered Brown, although Office Wilson could not recount the specifics of what he heard.

Peaceful protests and civil disorder broke out the day following Brown's shooting and lasted for several days. As the details of the original shooting event emerged from investigators, police grappled with establishing curfews and maintaining order, inciting further unrest amongst the Ferguson community. Members of the Ferguson community demonstrated in various ways in the vicinity of the original shooting. The protests began the day after the shooting. On August 10, a day of memorials began peacefully, but some crowd members became unruly after an evening candlelight vigil. Local police stations assembled approximately 150 officers in riot gear.

Chief of Police Tom Jackson drew criticism for his department’s release of information about Brown's death, which was described by the Associated Press as "infrequent" and "erratic", as well as for the aggressive response of his police department to the unrest at Ferguson in the days immediately after the shooting.

Jackson said that his top priority in Ferguson was race relations and committed to reach across the racial, economic, and generational divides in the community to find solutions, and said he welcomes the Justice Department training on racial relations between police and the residents, in which two-thirds of the residents are black and all but three of the police force's fifty-three officers are white.

Six weeks after the incident, a press relations firm released a video in which Jackson apologized to Brown's family for taking too long to remove Brown's body from the street, and to the peaceful protesters who felt they couldn't exercise their constitutional rights, saying that "For any mistakes I've made, I take full responsibility". He also said that he was truly sorry for the loss of their son. An attorney for Brown's family responded that the apology came at a time in which trust in Jackson "has reached an irreversible low".

On October 24, Amnesty International published a report declaring human rights abuses by Ferguson police. The report cited the use of lethal force in Brown's death, racial discrimination and excessive use of police force, imposition of restrictions on the rights to protest, intimidation of protesters, the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and long range acoustic devices, restrictions imposed on the media covering the protests, and lack of accountability for law enforcement policing protests.

A grand jury declined to indict Wilson which led to further protests, some of which were violent. This incident and the aftermath resulted in world-wide criticism of police tactics and highlighted racism in the United States.

Justice Department investigation and report

On September 2014, the United States Justice Department initiated a civil rights investigation to examine concerns about the Ferguson Police Department's practices, as well as reviewing its internal investigations of use of force during the preceding four years. Jackson said he welcomed the investigation. The DOJ investigation concluded that police officers in Ferguson routinely violated the constitutional rights of the city’s residents by applying racial stereotypes and discriminating against African-Americans. Internal City of Ferguson e-mails indicated that town officials have been viewing the department as a revenue source.

An article in The Washington Post highlighted key insights gleaned from the report, which they describe as "scathing", including:

The Los Angeles Times published a piece addressing a municipal code called "manner of walking along roadway” described in the report. This code is designed to require pedestrians to walk on the sidewalks or on the side of the road, but according to the report, Ferguson police used the code to harass blacks, with African Americans accounting for 95% of "manner of walking along roadway" charges from 2011 to 2013. The town imposes the highest fines in the region for violations of "manner of walking."

VOX summarized key findings in the report, including police and municipal officials sending racist emails, police arresting black residents when they were trying to care for loved ones who were hurt, officers abusing their power and disregarding the law as part of the department's culture while supervisors supported them, and the police department's using race to dictate who would be stopped and the level of force used against them.

Chief Jackson resigned on March 11, 2015, following the release of the Justice Department report and the firing of five Ferguson city officials and police officers. His resignation becomes effective March 19, when Lieutenant Colonel Al Eickhoff taking over as acting Chief. The decision to let Jackson resign rather than be fired is controversial, particularly since his contract was to expire in March anyway and his resignation guarantees him one year of pay and one year's continuation of his paid health insurance.