[JamesLFlowers]

My point was and is that a police department with issues that go as deep as Ferguson's won't turn the tide with the community they police overnight with a couple firings/resignations.

What issues? If you actually read the DOJ report, it is blatantly a hit piece. Its provides facts and figures and then draws a conclusion that is the exact opposite of those facts and figures! That kind of work would get you fired, even at a liberal university.

For example. The report says that 93% of the arrests in Ferguson are black. By itself that number seems horrible, proof of the problems in Ferguson. But when factored against Ferguson's population mix and national criminality statistics, it is proof of the exact opposite. It should be higher!

The report goes on to lament about Ferguson's racial mix at the police department. But never provides any factual basis to show that the mix is due to racial hiring. It simply tries to use the mix as proof in and of itself. Something anyone with intelligence and lack of bias can see straight thru. To actually prove its point it would have to show a trend of black applicants who were not hired. The reason it skips all this - lack of black applicants. Well, you can't hire those who are not applying for jobs. Same with the Judges and City Council. The report goes as far as blaming whites for the fact that the black community comes out for Nov national elections, but not for April local elections.

I ma not saying that one or more officers at the Ferguson FD aren't racists or assholes. But the DOJ report is proof that the PD itself is not the primary issue.

 

[JamesLFlowers]

That is most certainly an opinion shared by many here, I just disagree. There is no way most who see it that way went in with an open mind, I mean after all, it came from Holder's Justice Department so no chance it could be legit. Confirmation bias works both ways.

While I will admit to a certain level of bias against the current DOJ (heck I will admit to it against the DOS and I work for them), I did actually sit down and read the report and feel on its own that it is one of the largest loads of BS crap I have ever read. However, I am always willing to have an intelligent discussion about its points and conclusions.

 

[JamesLFlowers]

"They" do? If you have heard/read that, I don't know that that person was speaking for every resident of Ferguson. The message I've heard pretty consistently is that they want a police department that is reflective of the community with officers that live in the community. I would think most folks would want that for their town/city.

Then the community needs to apply for positions. That requires certain levels of education and lack of criminal records. But blaming the department because the community isn't supplying those candidates is not the department's issue.

 

[JamesLFlowers]

I'm assuming everyone just glazed over the stuff that points out how they were essentially running a for profit court system full of needless stops, arrest, tickets, and add on fines

So is every police department in America, that is not an indicator of racism. How many towns in SC on the way to Myrtle Beach do the same thing.

 

[JamesLFlowers]

But that wasn't the conclusion many have drawn from the report... some obviously have though.

True, it is not the conclusion drawn. But it is the conclusion the data present would lead many too. I think that is one of the issues here. The report doesn't give a clear cut answer. Its gives the DOJ's answer, but the data presented makes that answer questionable. Add in the perception (right or wrong) of many that this issue has become a cause with no real grounding in reality and it makes the conclusion seem highly questionable.

Was the Ferguson PD running a money racket? Well sure, so are 90% of the departments in America. Did that racket effect the black community? Of course, they are the majority of the community! Was it racial? Well, the DOJ says A and B make it racial. Logic says A and B are not anywhere near enough to make that determination. That is my issue with the report. They take A and B and say it equals C without any real proof other than the fact that B is black.