The U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday that it had discovered several human rights breaches by a small-town Mississippi police force. The department accused the officers of habitually employing excessive force and detaining individuals who were in arrears for minor traffic infractions.
The department’s Civil Rights Division revealed that an aggressive police enforcement campaign in Lexington, Mississippi, unfairly targeted Black persons, and that police actions were partially motivated by “intentional discrimination.” The inquiry is unique because it concentrated on a police force of approximately 10 officers in a 1,600-person city.
Civil Rights Division head Kristen Clarke told reporters, “Small and mid-sized police departments must not be allowed to violate people’s civil rights with impunity.”
“Lexington is a small, rural community, but its police department has had a heavy hand in people’s lives, wreaking havoc through use of excessive force, discriminatory policing, retaliation and more.” The town of Lexington and the police department reportedly cooperated and promised to carry out reforms, according to Justice Department officials. A town spokesman told Reuters that they would not comment.
According to a Justice Department report, the investigation started last year after Sam Dobbins, the department’s former chief, was fired after a recording of him boasting about shooting someone 119 times and using a racist epithet appeared. Prior to this, Dobbins denied using the slur, according to accounts from local media. The Justice Department can carry out investigations known as “pattern-or-practice” studies to ascertain whether state or local police are routinely violating people’s rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Under the Republican government of President Donald Trump, investigations were limited. However, under President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, the agency has announced 11 investigations into law enforcement agencies. Since several of those investigations are still underway, it is possible that they will be halted or slowed down in the event that Trump wins the election on November 5.
In response to high-profile police deaths of Black individuals in both areas, two communities—Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky—have said they will subject to federal oversight. The subject of the Lexington, Mississippi article is what Clarke referred to as a “crude policing-for-profit scheme,” in which the police department’s funding is determined by the money it collects from violations. Police frequently detain individuals for minor infractions like loitering and moving violations, and they imprison those who owe money for unpaid fines until they make it.
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