By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The Justice Department has launched a review of the police response to 16 days of Ferguson protests in wake of the fatal shooting of an unarmed teen, CNN reports. The review will examine the handling of crowd control, protesters and the media. The task will be undertaken by a 12-person team…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Not enough evidence exists to bring civil rights charges against the white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, investigators for the Justice Department said. The Washington Post reports that the Justice Department is reluctant to acknowledge the lack of evidence because of high tensions in the…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The Department of Justice is launching an independent review of Baltimore’s police force following a string of complaints from residents about excessive force and other alleged abuses, the Baltimore Sun reports. But instead of launching a full-scale civil rights investigation, the Department of Justice will work directly with police – an…
By Jamelle Bouie Slate On Thursday the families of Michael Brown and Eric Garner joined with the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Action Network, the National Bar Association, and the Black Women’s Roundtable to call for a full federal investigation in the police killings of the two young men. The Rev. Al Sharpton…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The Justice Department’s increased reviews of police department practices has reached Ohio after a grand jury opted no to indict officers involved in the unusual fatal shooting of a man at a Ohio Wal-Mart, the Associated Press reports. Pledging a “thorough and independent” investigation, the Justice Department said it’s trying to…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Six deputies for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department were sentenced Wednesday to up to 41 months in prison for interfering with a federal civil rights investigation at a jail. The federal judge told the defendants that they lacked “courage to do what is right” and showed no remorse. The sentencing follows…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A flood has wiped out a good portion of the FBI’s documents on the civil rights era. IO9 reports the discovery was made recently after a professor had requested documents related to the Ku Klux Klan. Those documents – and many more – were destroyed when the FBI’s archives in Alexandria, Va.,…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The rash of shootings of unarmed black teens has prompted Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an investigation of law enforcement bias in five not-yet-named cities, the USA Today reports. Holder said the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO., underscored the importance of an investigation. To head the…
