Ferguson probe finds racial bias against blacks

Washington, March 4

A Justice Department probe has concluded that the police in Ferguson where a white policeman shot dead an unarmed black teen last August, engaged in a "pattern and practice" of discrimination against African-Americans.
The Ferguson Police Department and the city's municipal court also targeted them disproportionately for traffic stops, use of force, and jail sentences, CNN reported citing a US law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
US Attorney General Eric Holder ordered a civil rights investigation after the police shooting that killed Michael Brown triggered weeks of protests in the predominantly black small US town.
Several stores, including some owned by Indian-Americans, were looted in the St. Louis, Missouri, suburb of 21,000 people, over two thirds of them black, but policed by 53 police officers all but three of them white.
The investigators also found evidence of racist jokes being sent around by Ferguson police and court officials.  — IANS