Ferguson retains control in Justice Department agreement

According to the agreement on the Ferguson website, all Ferguson Police Department(FPD) patrol officers, patrol supervisors, jail personnel, and other FPD employees reasonably expected to regularly interact with the public will be required to wear body cameras.

The governor charged the 16 community leaders on the commission with creating a “thorough, wide-ranging and unflinching study of the social and economic conditions that impede progress, equality and safety in the St. Louis region”.

However, the agreement does not admit any guilt or evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the Ferguson Police Department, despite the findings of the Department of Justice. “In many respects, this agreement simply encapsulates the elements that any small-to-medium-size police department can and should put in place to ensure that its officers conduct themselves in a manner that is constitutional and effective and that builds trust and genuine partnerships in diverse communities”.

Although officer Darren Wilson was not indicted for Brown’s death, the fatal shooting sparked an intense, public scrutiny of Ferguson and other police departments across the country.

An agreement the City of Ferguson, MO, and the U.S. Justice Department agreed to allow the city to maintain control of the police department and municipal court.

Cameras are required to be activated for “all investigatory stops; all arrests; all searches”, the agreement said.

The city agrees to change its municipal code that authorized jail for people who fail to pay fines. The deadline for comments is February 9, Ferguson officials said.

FILE – Demonstrators, marking the one-year anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown, protest along West Florrisant Street on August 11, 2015 in Ferguson, Missouri. Such deals also generally require the appointment of a monitor to oversee a police department’s compliance.

“We remain hopeful that the City Council will approve the Agreement on that date, and that we will not have to resort to contested litigation, given that this would delay implementation of much needed police and court reform, and divert substantial resources away from the reform effort”, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta told the council in a letter.

The city called the deal “the best agreement that the city’s representatives were able to obtain for the citizens”.