DOJ Report Blasts Ferguson Police
CUOMO: The Justice Department releasing a scathing 102-page report detailing a pattern of racism and systematic discrimination against blacks in Ferguson, Missouri, by the police department, period. CNN's Ed Lavandera has the latest. Ed, the more you read, the worse it gets.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Chris, many of the anecdotal stories that are talked about in this length report issued by the Department of Justice many citizens say they relate to extremely well.</s>LAVANDERA (voice-over): Months after racially charged protests in Ferguson, a new Justice Department report is exposing the ugly and pervasive culture of racism that ignited the unrest.</s>ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Our view of the evidence found no, no alternative explanation for the disproportionate impact on African- American residents other than implicit and explicit racial bias.</s>LAVANDERA: The Justice Department's report reveals a pattern of practice of racial discrimination of African-Americans by Ferguson police and municipal court employees. It's filled with specific cases and shocking racially offensive e-mails targeting the president and first lady. One e-mail depicts President Obama as a chimpanzee. Another includes a photo of a group of bare-chested women dancing in what appears to be Africa with a caption that reads "Michelle Obama's high school reunion." Community leaders in Ferguson are outraged.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they will say that about the president of the United States, what do you think they will say about poor black men and poor black women living in a racialized area of this city?</s>LAVANDERA: The searing report showed that African-Americans made up 93 percent of arrests, 88 percent of cases where force was used by police, 90 percent of citations and 85 percent of traffic stops. They faced that kind of discrimination at the hands of Ferguson police day in and day out for years. In one example an African-American man was pulled out of his apartment after an argument. When he told police, "You don't have a reason to lock me up," the officer responded using the N-word and said, "I can find something to lock you up on." The report paints a scathing portrait of the department's policing efforts, with officers using minor traffic and other violations to raise money for the city.</s>JAMES KNOWLES, FERGUSON MAYOR: These actions taken by these individuals are in no way representative of the employees of the city of Ferguson. We must all work to address issues of racial disparity in all aspects of society.</s>LAVANDERA: And many residents here in Ferguson say that what they have seen in this report and what they have experienced themselves is just outright harassment over the years, but despite the mayor speaking out briefly, John, it was the police chief who did not appear at that press conference and has not spoken out publicly since the report was issued -- John.</s>BERMAN: Ed Lavandera, thanks so much. I want to talk a whole lot more about that. I want to bring in the managing editor of "The St. Louis American", Chris King, along with Reverend Starsky Wilson. He's co-chair of the Ferguson Commission, an independent group studying social and economic conditions in the St. Louis area. Chris, let me start with you here. I mean, this report in some ways as the first day of the rest of the Ferguson police department's life and the police chief, Tom Jackson, not even there for the release, Chris. What does that say for you?</s>CHRIS KING, MANAGING EDITOR, THE ST. LOUIS AMERICAN: It says that they're trying to make a deal to get him to go away is what it says to me. If I was the mayor of Ferguson, thank God I'm not, but I would have opened that press conference by saying I accepted the resignation of Chief Tom Jackson today. This report shows that we don't have a professional police department.</s>BERMAN: And, Reverend Wilson, I mean, is there any way given what's in that report, given what's in that report, given the contents of what that report says has been going on in Ferguson -- is there any way the chief should be allowed to keep his job?</s>REV. STARSKY WILSON, CEO OF THE DEACONNESS FOUNDATION: I think the chief has to be thoughtful about what's best for the community, what's best for the region. Quite frankly, this is something he could have considered a long time ago. He could have taken this action by now. But it is also the case of the city council that the city manager, who really has chief administrative responsibility in the city of Ferguson should be thoughtful about how they can have an opportunity to move forward if this is, indeed, the first day of that police department's -- the rest of that police department's life, they have to be thoughtful about who they want to guide it, how they want it overseen. And the report suggests they need to totally reorient the thinking and orientation of policing there. This requires culture change which requires leadership change.</s>BERMAN: To continue this metaphor, Chris, the first day of the rest of his life, should this police department even have a life anymore? One option would simply be to disband it, hand over jurisdiction or policing duties to St. Louis County or one of the areas around there. Do you think it's capable, possible even to fix things?</s>KING: No. Darren Wilson came to Ferguson from the Jennings Police Department, another poorly run and racist police department. It was dissolved and they contracted for police services with St. Louis County, which has 850 cops. Ferguson has about 50. So, look at the scale. The scale is reflected in the professionalism. St. Louis County Police Department is flawed and it's under a collaborative review with the cops division of the Department of Justice and we can improve that police department, but we shouldn't have a Ferguson Police Department.</s>BERMAN: Reverend Wilson, talk to me now about what you are going to do. How does this affect your job in the coming days and weeks as you talk to city leaders, the elected officials there, the appointed city managers?</s>WILSON: Well, first and foremost, this work that we're doing through the commission is regional work. And while we do have this particular input about one particular police department, we recognize that you could go a couple of miles in either direction and you're in another city where quite frankly you could have run this same study and you could have these same kinds of results. Bellefontaine Neighbors, which is nearby, has some similar kind of things that we find in this report coming out now about them. So what this does is this gives us an opportunity and an assessment tool from a third party external to the region to be thoughtful about all of our policing. So, to be thoughtful about what true community policing actually is, what it means to have the community engaged, to have police to be accountable to them. So, this becomes a tool in our work. We've seen more than 22 reports posted through the commission so far. This needs to be an input for our citizen law enforcement relations group and, quite frankly, it becomes validation not just for the truth of the testimony we've heard from citizens but also from some of the early priorities coming out of our working group for citizen law enforcement relations and municipal courts and governance. So, the question is, how many folks are going to step up, receive this report and honor that it's not just about one municipality, it's rather about a regional approach to policing that needs to be reoriented.</s>BERMAN: Chris, you keep nodding your head agreeing with Reverend Wilson here. Is that because you simply are not surprised at all by the findings of this report, that you agree with the suggestions inside of it and you think the way forward is obvious now?</s>KING: Well, I'm agreeing with Starsky because he's right, what he's saying is correct about our regional fragmentation. Ferguson is very typical of north county municipalities. The Department of Justice has a mandate and Congressman Clay has urged them to take this mandate to extend the review. And if you listen closely to the attorney general, he said other municipalities and then he repeated that from his prepared remarks. So, I don't think they're not done looking. If they're not done looking, I'm here to tell you they're not done finding other police departments that don't deserve to be police departments.</s>BERMAN: Talk to me a little bit about the process yesterday. Look, since August things in and around Ferguson have been complicated, that's being euphemistic. They've been messed up largely in the way a lot of this has been handled from the beginning. Chris, what did you think about the way this information was released yesterday after being leaked in the days before?</s>KING: Very, very, very bad decision by the Department of Justice and did I let my feelings being known to our direct contact there. There's not reason to manipulate the public. I felt manipulated as a journalist myself. I had to read about this in the national press. We're the African -- "St. Louis America" is the African-American newspaper for the state of Missouri and certainly the eastern half of the state and for St. Louis, and we have a national voice to the black public and for us to have to read a leaked report, I had to get it from a reporter I know in Washington, D.C. I was very personally insulted on behalf of our readers that we had to be manipulated. Just give us the complete report. Trust us -- let us at the grownup table, just let us read the report, don't manipulate what we think about the report. Let us read the entire report and we should be talking about it after we've read it.</s>BERMAN: Chris King and Starsky Wilson, thanks so much for being with us. Good luck going ahead because the work is just beginning there. Let us know what you think about this. You can tweet us @new day or go to Facebook.com/newday. Leave us your thoughts. Michaela?</s>PEREIRA: All right. John, some of you may be at risk of losing your health insurance. The Supreme Court taking on a make-or-break Obamacare case this week. Why your coverage could be compromised, ahead.