US Judge Approves Ferguson Police Department Reform

On Tuesday, a federal judge has approved the agreement between US Justice Department and the city of Ferguson in Missouri. The agreement indicates that there will be changes in the current police department following the 2014 shooting of an unarmed black teenager.

According to Reuters, US District judge Catherine Perry from Missouri's Eastern District has litigated the 129-page accord which outlines the St. Louis suburb's municipal code. Both the Justice Department and Ferguson recognize "that the ability of a police department to protect the community it serves is only as strong as the relationship it has with that community."

Yahoo wrote that the agreement would be vital since it will require Ferguson's police department to mandate its police officers in an undergoing bias-awareness training and the department in an accountability system. Furthermore, there is another agreement with the city that the police must ensure that stop, search and arrest practices will not be an exercise of discrimination for the basis of race or other factors protected by the law.

MSN published that the reform of police department sparked from the eruption of violent protests in 2014 by the black community.  This is after a grand jury chose not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in his case of shooting the unarmed 18-year-old African- American Michael Brown that led to his death. The city council of Ferguson approved the agreement in March after receiving definite assurance from the Justice Department that it would work with the city in their efforts not to cripple city finances.

It is notably known that many US cities already approved police reforms such as Seattle, Washington and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The decree came the day that a certain white police from St. Louis shot and killed a black carjacking suspect about 10kms southeast of Ferguson. The police chief said that the suspect was the first one to point a gun at the officer and prompted them to open fire. 

Tags

Missouri, Justice Department, St. Louis, African-American, Police Department, Catherine Perry, Darren Wilson, Michael Brown

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