Latest: Federal Government Files Civil Rights Suit Against Ferguson

[uhnope]

Source: ABC

The Justice Department has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Ferguson, one day after the city council voted to revise an agreement aimed at improving how police and courts treat poor people and minorities in the St. Louis suburb.

Messages seeking comment from Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III were not immediately returned.

Ferguson has been under Justice Department scrutiny since 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by white officer Darren Wilson 18 months ago. A grand jury and the Justice Department declined to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014. But a scathing Justice Department report was critical of police and a profit-driven municipal court system. Following months of negotiations, a deal between the federal agency and Ferguson was announced in January.

A recent financial analysis determined that the agreement would cost the struggling city nearly $4 million in the first year alone. The council voted 6-0 Tuesday to adopt the deal, but with seven amendments.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-ferguson-mayor-amended-agreement-best-offer-36833854

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Good to know that the Obama administration is on the job.

[tazkcmo]

1. Missing In Action

Why didn't the article list the amendments? I'm pissed I clicked on an ABC link because I didn't check the source first. Shitty reporting like this is just one reason why I unplugged my TV in 1995.

Thanks for the story though and now I'm off to try and find those amendments they added.

[tazkcmo]

2. Here's a summary

A summarized list of the ammendments

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fergusons-proposed-amendments-to-the-doj-consent-decree/2016/02/10/f4bc112a-d001-11e5-90d3-34c2c42653ac_story.html

Just throw 'em in jail. It'll be better treatment than they gave Mr. Brown.

[Uponthegears]

3. Too little

Too late.

[uhnope]

4. tell that to a child who, potentially, is growing up in a better Ferguson

[Uponthegears]

6. Great idea

I'll tell Michael Brown . . . oh, wait, he's dead, his killer is a right wing icon and Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch are talking about fines.

[dem in texas]

5. Hope the poor in Ferguson get justice and fair deal.

The Ferguson government is leaching off the poor, mostly minority, people of the town. Citizens are hit with fines and surcharges for minor things, then, if they don't pay by a certain date, the city government adds more charges and more money fines on to what they are already unable to pay. I read that this is happening in other towns in that same county.

In a town near Ferguson, one poor elderly woman got a fine for not having her hedges trimmed and that city just kept heaping fines on her until she was in danger of losing her home. The article stated that the homeowners do not get a warning, but are automatically fined if the inspector sees something like a lawn needing mowing or trash that needs to removed.

In addition to the problem of a large black population policed by an almost all white police force, there also seems to be too many small cities in that county. Each one has to have their own city government, so they end up with top heavy staffs and not enough residents to support the cost of maintaining all the overhead.

Ferguson is one of many towns that live off their poor citizens, by issuing fines for everything. I bet the Ferguson city employees have fat retirement accounts.

I hope the lawsuit brings justice to the people of Ferguson, but I am skeptical unless they clean house in their city government. I hope a lot of people pay fines and go to jail over this.