# DOJ report on racism and shakedown-artistry in the Ferguson PD **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 9, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604 "2015-03-09T15:20:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Vanlandingham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/341 "2015-03-17T00:41:20Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If people are being ticketed and arrested for crimes that didn’t take place, then that either indicates stunning incompetence on behalf of the defendant and/or their counsel (which is beyond the city’s ability to control) or that the entire judicial apparatus of the United States is fundamentally corrupt (which the DOJ does not allege). The vast majority of cases in the Ferguson court are for municipal code violations where (since it is not a offense with a possible sentence of jail time) the defendant is not provided with a court appointed lawyer, and most of these defendants cannot afford one. One specific concern stated in the report is that because such a high percentage of defendants end up arrested and serving jail time for “Failure to Appear” (the court has had a practice of issuing arrest warrants for that after a single missed payment on a fine, despite a state law that requires the defendant be given 30 days to rectify the situation before a warrant is issued) that it can be argued that these defendants are being deprived of their right to counsel. > [@](#): > > In 2012, a City Councilmember, citing specific examples, urged against reappointing Judge Brockmeyer because he “often times does not listen to the testimony, does not review the reports or the criminal history of defendants, and doesn’t let all the pertinent witnesses testify before rendering a verdict.” Also, > [@](#): > > The court holds three or four sessions per month, and each session lasts no more than three hours. It is not uncommon for as many as 500 people to appear before the court in a single session, exceeding the court’s physical capacity and leading individuals to line up outside of court waiting to be heard. Many people have multiple offenses pending; accordingly, the court typically considers 1,200-1,500 offenses in a single session, and has in the past considered over 2,000 offenses during one sitting. It is also noted that the FPD has continued to employ officers who have been proven to have lied during internal affairs investigations, continued to take their statements at face value, and illegally failed to disclose to defendants that the officer was known to the department to not be honest when making official statements. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/342 "2015-03-17T00:51:43Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I dispute that the people being targeted are factually innocent Well in the example I just gave, the black man who was challenged by the police with such flagrant hostility was guilty of “Waiting At a Bus Stop While Black”. That sort of thing seems to be endemic in Ferguson. Moreover, when you look at the policies of other communities – ones that are actually sane rather than flagrantly racist and whose police aren’t overtly hostile to racial minorities – extraordinary efforts are often made to avoid exacerbating hostilities between police and minority communities, like a more racially diverse police service that is also well integrated within the community, and doesn’t attack its residents like a pack of rabid dogs. The idea is that the police service is seen as a part of and helpful to the community rather than being its enemy, and is more accountable for its actions – like specific prohibitions against arbitrarily harassing someone for the crime of Being in Public While Black. You can either work to de-escalate a racial problem or you can just stupidly make it worse. The Ferguson PD practically wrote the book on doing everything wrong – quite literally, just about everything. What matters are results in terms of what kind of community you end up with, not whether the brutal police shakedown of a group of black youths actually turned up an unpaid parking ticket. > [@Smapti](#): > > and I dispute that policing to raise revenue is inherently wrong. It’s inherently wrong because it isn’t – and never was – the purpose of policing, and it’s exactly the kind of narrow-minded misdirection of police services that leads to abuses and counterproductive results. See, for instance, Ferguson, MO. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/343 "2015-03-17T01:27:52Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Well in the example I just gave, the black man who was challenged by the police with such flagrant hostility was guilty of “Waiting At a Bus Stop While Black”. That sort of thing seems to be endemic in Ferguson. Is that what he was charged with? Because if Missouri actually has a criminal statute of that name… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/344 "2015-03-17T01:32:46Z")
Ah, the caverns of semantics, where mortally wounded arguments retreat to await the End. The bones are scattered across the cavern floor, encrusted with dingbat guano… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/345 "2015-03-17T01:37:09Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I dispute that the people being targeted are factually innocent and I dispute that policing to raise revenue is inherently wrong. Read the fucking report: > [@the report](#): > > Even relatively routine misconduct by Ferguson police officers can have significant consequences for the people whose rights are violated. For example, in the summer of 2012,a 32-year-old African-American man sat in his car cooling off after playing basketball in a Ferguson public park. An officer pulled up behind the man’s car, blocking him in, and demanded the man’s Social Security number and identification. Without any cause, the officer accused the man of being a pedophile, referring to the presence of children in the park, and ordered the man out of his car for a pat-down, although the officer had no reason to believe the man was armed. The officer also asked to search the man’s car. The man objected, citing his constitutional rights. In response, the officer arrested the man, reportedly at gunpoint, charging him with eight violations of Ferguson’s municipal code. One charge, Making a False Declaration, was for initially providing the short form of his first name(e.g., “Mike” instead of “Michael”),and an address which, although legitimate, was different from the one on his driver’s license. Another charge was for not wearing a seat belt, even though he was seated in a parked car. The officer also charged the man both with having an expired operator’s license, and with having no operator’s license in his possession. The man told us that, because of these charges, he lost his job as a contractor with the federal government that he had held for years. So he was arrested for making a false declaration for saying his name was Mike instead of Michael. Just to be clear, you’re saying he was not innocent, that this was a legitimate arrest he could have avoided just by keeping his nose clean and not being the sort of lowlife bottom-feeder who tells a police officer the name he goes by when asked what his name is? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/346 "2015-03-17T01:40:47Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Read the fucking report: > > So he was arrested for making a false declaration for saying his name was Mike instead of Michael. Just to be clear, you’re saying he was not innocent, that this was a legitimate arrest he could have avoided just by keeping his nose clean and not being the sort of lowlife bottom-feeder who tells a police officer the name he goes by when asked what his name is? He was in physical control of a vehicle he did not have a license to operate, was he not? ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Vanlandingham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/347 "2015-03-17T01:43:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Is that what he was charged with? Because if Missouri actually has a criminal statute of that name… That person was not charged with anything, he was simply a random black man standing at a bus stop who was required (illegally) to present identification without probable cause, cussed out by the Lieutenant stopping him for no reason, and then told to “get the hell out of my face” when it turned out he had no outstanding warrants. Really, you need to either read the report or shut up. In another case, > [@](#): > > For example, in the summer of 2012, an officer detained a 32-year-old African-American man who was sitting in his car cooling off after playing basketball. The officer arguably had grounds to stop and question the man, since his windows appeared more deeply tinted than permitted under Ferguson’s code. Without cause, the officer went on to accuse the man of being a pedophile, prohibit the man from using his cell phone, order the man out of his car for a pat-down despite having no reason to believe he was armed, and ask to search his car. When the man refused, citing his constitutional rights, the officer reportedly pointed a gun at his head, and arrested him. The officer charged the man with eight different counts, including making a false declaration for initially providing the short form of his first name (e.g., “Mike” instead of “Michael”) and an address that, although legitimate, differed from the one on his license. The officer also charged the man both with having an expired operator’s license, and with having no operator’s license in possession. The man told us he lost his job as a contractor with the federal government as a result of the charges. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/348 "2015-03-17T01:47:06Z")
Another candidate for America’s Most Wanted: > [@the report](#): > > In October 2012, police officers pulled over an African - American man who had lived in Ferguson for 16 years, claiming that his passenger - side brake light was broken. The driver happened to have replaced the light recently and knew it to be functioning properly. Nonetheless, according to the man’s written complaint, one officer stated, “ let’s see how many tickets you’re going to get,” while a second officer tapped his Electronic Control Weapon (“ECW”) on the roof of the man’s car. The officers wrote the man a citation for “tail light/reflector/license plate light out.” They refused to let the man show them that his car’s equipment was in order, warning him, “ don’t you get out of that car until you get to your house.” The man, who believed he had been racially profiled, was so upset that he went to the police station that night to show a sergeant that his brakes and license plate light worked. And some more Menaces To Society: > [@The Report](#): > > As with its pattern of unconstitutional stops, FPD routinely makes arrests without probable cause. Frequently, officers arrest people for conduct that plainly does not meet the elements of the cited offense. For example, in November 2013, an officer approached five African-American young people listening to music in a car. Claiming to have smelled marijuana, the officer placed them under arrest for disorderly conduct based on their “gathering in a group for the purposes of committing illegal activity.”The young people were detained and charged—some taken to jail, others delivered to their parents—despite the officer finding no marijuana, even after conducting an inventory search of the car Shall we go on? > [@The Report](#): > > In February 2012, an officer wrote an arrest notification ticket for Peace Disturbance for “loud music” coming from a car. The arrest ticket appears unlawful as the officer did not assert, and there is no other indication, that a third party was disturbed by the music—an element of the offense. So yeah: your claim that you can’t arrest an innocent man is absofuckinglutely wrong, unless you mean “innocent” in some sort of prelapsarian sense. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/349 "2015-03-17T01:48:11Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He was in physical control of a vehicle he did not have a license to operate, was he not? Set that weak shit aside. He was charged with making a false declaration for saying his name was Mike. His name was Michael. Do you support the officer for making that charge or not? ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Vanlandingham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/350 "2015-03-17T01:48:59Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > He was in physical control of a vehicle he did not have a license to operate, was he not? He was sitting in a parked car. You are only required to have a driver’s license if you are actually, you know, driving. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/351 "2015-03-17T01:55:27Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Set that weak shit aside. He was charged with making a false declaration for saying his name was Mike. His name was Michael. Do you support the officer for making that charge or not? Did he tell the officer his real name or not? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/352 "2015-03-17T01:56:53Z")
> [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](#): > > He was sitting in a parked car. You are only required to have a driver’s license if you are actually, you know, driving. Is the officer to assume that the vehicle arrived there by magic, and that he just happened to have the keys in his possession and climbed into it without having any intention of eventually driving it somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Vanlandingham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/353 "2015-03-17T02:01:44Z")
Another great example from the report… > [@](#): > > In November 2013, an officer deployed a canine to bite and detain a fleeing subject even though the officer knew the suspect was unarmed. The officer deemed the subject, an African-American male who was walking down the street, suspicious because he appeared to walk away when he saw the officer. The officer stopped him and frisked him, finding no weapons. The officer then ran his name for warrants. When the man heard the dispatcher say over the police radio that he had outstanding warrants—the report does not specify whether the warrants were for failing to appear in municipal court or to pay owed fines, or something more serious—he ran. The officer followed him and released his dog, which bit the man on both arms. The officer’s supervisor found the force justified because the officer released the dog “fearing that the subject was armed,” even though the officer had already determined the man was unarmed. Note that not only was the stop itself unconstitutional (a subjective judgement of ‘suspicious behavior’ does not justify a stop, the officer must be able to ‘articulate’ the crime that the suspect the person has committed), but he used his canine to attack a person that he knew posed no realistic threat. The department then ‘approved’ this blatant abuse of power. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/354 "2015-03-17T02:04:15Z")
> [@](#): > > When the man heard the dispatcher say over the police radio that he had outstanding warrants—the report does not specify whether the warrants were for failing to appear in municipal court or to pay owed fines, or something more serious—he ran. The officer followed him and released his dog, which bit the man on both arms. You mean to tell me the police pursued a man who fled because he had a warrant out for his arrest? The horror! Next you’ll be telling me they shot a man who was waving a gun around and threatening to kill people! ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Vanlandingham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/355 "2015-03-17T02:07:15Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Is the officer to assume that the vehicle arrived there by magic, and that he just happened to have the keys in his possession and climbed into it without having any intention of eventually driving it somewhere else? That is irrelevant, you can’t charge a person with a crime just because you suspect that they might intend to commit one. ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Vanlandingham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/356 "2015-03-17T02:09:44Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You mean to tell me the police pursued a man who fled because he had a warrant out for his arrest? The horror! > > Next you’ll be telling me they shot a man who was waving a gun around and threatening to kill people! The issue in this case is not that the officer pursued a person with an outstanding warrant, it’s that he had no probable cause in the first place, that he used unreasonable force to detain a person that he knew was not armed, and that the claim he ‘feared he was armed’ was a blatant lie, since he had already patted him down. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/357 "2015-03-17T02:10:08Z")
> [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](#): > > That is irrelevant, you can’t charge a person with a crime just because you suspect that they might intend to commit one. The fact that the car is _present_, that it belongs to the person sitting in it, and that that person is in physical control thereof is strong evidence that a crime has already occurred. ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Vanlandingham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/358 "2015-03-17T02:12:33Z")
And more… > [@](#): > > In January 2013, a patrol sergeant stopped an African-American man after he saw the man talk to an individual in a truck and then walk away. The sergeant detained the man, although he did not articulate any reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. When the man declined to answer questions or submit to a frisk—which the sergeant sought to execute despite articulating no reason to believe the man was armed—the sergeant grabbed the man by the belt, drew his ECW, and ordered the man to comply. The man crossed his arms and objected that he had not done anything wrong. Video captured by the ECW’s built-in camera shows that the man made no aggressive movement toward the officer. The sergeant fired the ECW, applying a five-second cycle of electricity and causing the man to fall to the ground. The sergeant almost immediately applied the ECW again, which he later justified in his report by claiming that the man tried to stand up. The video makes clear, however, that the man never tried to stand—he only writhed in pain on the ground. The video also shows that the sergeant applied the ECW nearly continuously for 20 seconds, longer than represented in his report. The man was charged with Failure to Comply and Resisting Arrest, but no independent criminal violation. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/359 "2015-03-17T02:13:39Z")
> [@Ray\_Vanlandingham](#): > > The issue in this case is not that the officer pursued a person with an outstanding warrant, it’s that he had no probable cause in the first place The man in question was jaywalking and turned and started walking away when he saw the cop. How is that not probable cause? > [@](#): > > that he used unreasonable force to detain a person that he knew was not armed The only unreasonable amount of force when dealing with a fleeing fugitive is none. > [@](#): > > and that the claim he ‘feared he was armed’ was a blatant lie, since he had already patted him down. There are places you can hide a weapon that won’t get caught during a patdown. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604/360 "2015-03-17T02:15:22Z")
> [@](#): > > In January 2013, a patrol sergeant stopped an African-American man after he saw the man talk to an individual in a truck and then walk away. The sergeant detained the man, although he did not articulate any reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. Sounds like a drug deal to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doj-report-on-racism-and-shakedown-artistry-in-the-ferguson-pd/714604.md?page=19)