by Daniel Johnson
September 29, 2024
A Division of Justice investigation decided that the Lexington Police Division engaged in a sample of discrimination towards Black folks.
In a small metropolis in one in every of Mississippi’s poorest counties, a Division of Justice investigation decided that the Lexington Police Division engaged in a sample of discrimination towards Black folks and used extreme power to retaliate towards its critics in a report the Justice Division issued which particulars the division’s abuses.
In line with The Related Press, the Justice Division’s investigation uncovered a division that violated the rights of its residents with impunity. Compounding these findings, the overwhelming majority of Lexington’s residents are Black, making up roughly 76% of the inhabitants.
Officers used arrests and fines for low-level offenses to generate cash for the division and left folks in jail if they might not pay these fines. As well as, law enforcement officials sexually harassed girls and threatened folks in the event that they challenged regulation enforcement.
In line with United States Lawyer Common Merrick Garland, “At present’s findings present that the Lexington Police Division deserted its sacred place of belief locally by routinely violating the constitutional rights of these it was sworn to guard.”
Investigators traced the genesis of the racial disparities perpetuated by the division to a former chief, Sam Dobbins, a white man who was fired after his use of racial slurs and speaking about how many individuals he killed on responsibility. It was beneath Dobbins, in accordance with the Justice Division, when the arrests for low-level offenses started to dramatically improve.
In line with the Justice Division, Lexington averaged over 10 occasions the per capita arrest price for the whole state of Mississippi and a majority of those that have been arrested have been Black folks.
In line with Assistant Lawyer Common Kirsten Clarke the Metropolis of Lexington ran a scheme which penalized Lexington’s residents for being poor. “In America, being poor will not be against the law. However in Lexington, their practices punish folks for poverty.” Clarke stated.
In line with Clarke, Lexington’s residents owe the police division a complete of $1.7 million in fines and its metropolis court docket licensed the arrest of roughly 650 folks, virtually half the town, due to unpaid fines. Jill Collen Jefferson, the president of JULIAN, a civil rights group that filed a federal lawsuit towards the Lexington Police Division in 2022, was arrested by the division in 2023.
Though Jefferson’s group had documented the abuses of the division for years, the State of Mississippi did not take any motion. In an announcement, Jefferson indicated her gratitude to Clarke and the Justice Division.
“I really feel an intense quantity of gratitude for Kristen Clarke,” Jefferson stated. “We needed to go to highest ranges of the Division of Justice to get justice for this neighborhood. And I’m grateful that they listened. It reveals that it doesn’t matter how tiny your city is, that your life issues. Lastly, the day has come the place the reality has come out.”
In line with Todd Gee, the U.S. Lawyer for the Southern District of Mississippi, departments in small cities ought to take note of the Justice Division’s pursuit of small-town injustice and alter their patterns and practices accordingly.
“Gone are the times when rural isolation and remoteness may conceal the injustice of unconstitutional policing. Make adjustments now in case your company is policing in these similar illegal methods,” Gee stated.
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