By Steve Neavling
The Justice Department announced Thursday that it has broadened its investigation into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department in Mississippi, where a notorious “Goon Squad” of deputies has been accused of torturing residents for nearly two decades.
Federal investigators will now examine whether the department has engaged in systemic unconstitutional policing through violence, unlawful searches, arrests, and other discriminatory practices, The New York Times reports.
“Since the Goon Squad’s sickening acts came to light, we have received reports of other instances where Rankin deputies overused Tasers, entered homes unlawfully, bandied about shocking racial slurs and deployed dangerous, cruel tactics to assault people in their custody,” Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, said during a news conference.
The sheriff’s department has come under fire after six deputies were sentenced to federal prison in connection with the torture of two Black men.
In a statement on Facebook, the sheriff’s office wrote that it would “fully cooperate with all aspects of this investigation, while also welcoming DOJ’s input into our updated policies and practices.”
