America
'Dismantling Ferguson police department possible'
Washington, March 7
US Attorney General Eric
Holder has said that the Department of Justice (DoJ) would use all its
authority to ensure reforms in law enforcement agencies in Ferguson,
Missouri, including drastic measures such as dismantling the Ferguson
Police Department.
"We are prepared to use all the powers that we
have to ensure that the situation changes there," Holder said on
Friday, Xinhua reported.
When asked whether his department would
seek dismantling of the local police department, Holder did not rule out
that possibility.
"If that's what's necessary, we are prepared to do that," he said.
In
its Ferguson investigation report released on Wednesday, the DoJ said a
prevailing pattern of racial bias existed in the police department and
other law enforcement agencies in Ferguson, a city thrust into the
limelight when a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black
teen last summer.
According to the report, apart from the
excessive and unjustified use of force against black people and
communities, Ferguson law enforcement officials, including the municipal
court officials, systematically relied on unlawful and hefty fines on
African-Americans to create revenue increases.
“The notion that
you would use a law enforcement agency or law enforcement generally to
generate revenue, and then the callous way in which that was done and
the impact that it had on the lives of the ordinary citizens of that
municipality was just appalling," said Holder. "That is not something
that we're going to tolerate."