Ferguson has a population of 21,000. City had 16,000 outstanding arrest warrants as of March

[octoberlib]

Loud music. Not wearing a seat belt. Speeding.

A year after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown sparked a firestorm in Ferguson, the city is still pumping out thousands of new arrest warrants and jailing people over minor offenses, according to an exclusive CNNMoney analysis.

This practice continues despite a scathing report from the Department of Justice in March that found that Ferguson's police department and municipal court were unconstitutionally targeting low-income and minority residents with tickets and fines for minor offenses -- often in pursuit of revenue. The report noted that there were more than 16,000 people (residents and non-residents alike) with outstanding arrest warrants as of the end of last year, equivalent to around 75% of the town's population.

While the police were the ones giving out the tickets, the DOJ slammed the city's court for using arrest warrants to squeeze money out of the people least able to afford the fines. Even though there need to be repercussions for people who break the law and ignore their tickets, the DOJ says jail time is far too harsh a punishment for infractions that rarely pose a major threat to public safety.

But in the wake of the DOJ report, CNNMoney found that Ferguson is still at it. The city has issued more than 2,300 new arrest warrants so far this year and thousands of older warrants continue to haunt people -- even as neighboring municipalities are wiping out old tickets or warrants entirely.


http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/06/news/ferguson-arrest-warrants/index.html?sr=twac0810fergusonpolicing

[daleanime]

1. This shit has got to stop....

[Skittles]

2. looks like the SERVE part to them means serving warrants

Last edited Tue Aug 11, 2015, 12:57 AM - Edit history (1)

for money grabbing purposes

[nilesobek]

3. Amnesty should be imposed by the Feds.

The police state is outta control. Let those cops get real jobs like the rest of us.

[moondust]

4. Curious

if this is how the predators fund their (white) city government so they can cut taxes on the somewhat wealthier folks like, oh, $24-billion multinational EMERSON ELECTRIC which is headquartered on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson. Sorta like Kansas and Texas sticking it to the poor so they can cut taxes for rich assholes and attract more of them to their tax-free havens.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. "Curious if this is how the predators fund their (white) city government"

Oh, good grief. A little basic research would go a long way in avoiding pointless race-baiting -- http://www.fergusoncity.com/171/Council-Members

Corruption is universal.

[Skidmore]

9. This is how government is funded in the wake of huge tax cuts

and an citizenry who doesn't want to pay to support their infrastructure and the services they want. And then there the lotteries. This goes back to tax politics. How the policing for revenue is implemented can very easily have racial underpinnings if you have a city like Ferguson with its city officials clearly being unapologetic racists.

[ibegurpard]

5. jesus

K&R

[Starry Messenger]

6. k&r

[msongs]

7. fortunately the former AG has a big $$ job as a DC lawyer & has no concerns about this nt

[Lee-Lee]

10. I have always said municipal courts should be banned nationwide

Take all offenses to state court, and the political body that wrote the ticket should never see a dime of fine money.

That is how it is in NC- if a local cop writes a ticket it goes to state court, if there are fines or court costs none of that money goes back to the city or county he/she works for it only goes to operate the courts and into the states general fund.

In fact, writing tickets costs local departments money because they must pay the officers overtime if the court date falls on a day they are not on shift, and if it is a day they are on shift they have to pay someone else to cover that shift.

[n2doc]

11. Funny how this gets virtually ignored by DU

While a couple of shit stirrers in Seattle are canonized.