DOJ: Lack of leadership plagued Ferguson response
WASHINGTON — Law enforcement's initial response to last year's explosion of civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo., was plagued by a lack of leadership, a pre-existing broken relationship with the local community and myriad tactical errors that only "inflamed tensions,'' a Justice Department review released Thursday concluded.
The review, which focused on the actions of the Ferguson Police Department, St. Louis County Police Department, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Missouri Highway Patrol, offered a deeply critical account of a largely "uncoordinated and incomplete'' effort to establish control during the turbulent first 17 days after black teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by white Ferguson officer Darren Wilson.
Ferguson police were singled out for the harshest assessment, with federal officials concluding that the agency "had no agency-wide efforts in place to manage the community reaction.''
"In addition, the fact that long-term relationships with the community were seemingly not developed over time led to devastating effects,'' the report stated. "The absence of trust between the police in Ferguson and many in the community negatively impacted the response of all agencies involved and was a barrier to responding agencies' efforts to communicate effectively with the community.''
Many of the findings in the 162-page report played out on live television in the days immediately following the Aug. 9 shooting, as Ferguson officials visibly struggled to manage a growing public storm before most of the authority was turned over to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
Among the most criticized tactical decisions was the choice to send military-style vehicles and weapons into the fray.
"The use of military weapons and sniper deployment atop military vehicles was inappropriate, inflamed tensions and created fear among demonstrators,'' Justice officials found.
Federal authorities also seized on the use of canine teams by three of the agencies, indicating that such a tactic "invokes powerful emotions in many observing citizens and protesters, particularly where racial tensions exist.''
"The use of canines for crowd control in Ferguson was an inappropriate and ineffective strategy,'' the report concluded.
In a written statement, Ferguson officials said the report was under review.
"The events of August 2014 caused many law enforcement agencies to review their policies and procedures,'' the city statement read. "The city of Ferguson welcomes the opportunity to become a leader in utilizing and implementing innovative law enforcement practices focused on transparency and community trust.''
St. Louis County Police Department Col. Jon Belmar, said that while report "falls short as a complete lesson for others in our profession to follow,'' it could offer some assistance.
"Events of extreme civil unrest, as history has shown, are unwieldy and difficult to manage by any precise measure,'' Belmar said.
Ronald Davis, director of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) unit who oversaw the federal review, said last summer's rapidly unfolding events posed "unprecedented challenges'' for law enforcement. But he hoped that the pointed review, which contained 113 so-called "lessons learned," would serve as a "road map'' for the nation's 16,000 police agencies.
"We know that the truth often hurts, but ignorance is fatal,'' Davis said, adding that local authorities requested the review.
Davis said that no "one fatal error'' was to blame for the deeply flawed response. But he said the Ferguson department's long-broken relationship with the community was "significant,'' along with the region's lack of overall preparation for managing public demonstrations.
The federal examination comes six months after Justice's Civil Rights Division issued a stinging rebuke of Ferguson police operations.
The March report found that police engaged in a broad pattern of racially biased enforcement that permeated the city's justice system, including the use of unreasonable force against African-American suspects.
While Brown's fatal shooting prompted waves of protests and a continuing national re-examination of law enforcement's relationship with minority communities, no criminal charges were filed against Wilson. In a separate civil rights review, federal authorities found that Wilson, who no longer works for the Ferguson department, acted in self defense.
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