The following statement was released Friday by the Justice Department on “an out-of-court settlement agreement with the City of Lexington, Mississippi,” regarding a DOJ report which found that “found that the Lexington Police Department (LPD) engages in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations.”
The Justice Department announced today (Friday) that it has obtained an out-of-court settlement agreement with the City of Lexington, Mississippi, to remedy certain violations described in the Department’s Sept. 26, 2024, findings report. Specifically, the Department found that the Lexington Police Department (LPD) engages in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations.
“The Department of Justice supports local law enforcement” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division. “We are very pleased that the City of Lexington and the Lexington Police Department reached an agreement to enhance the lawful and essential activities of the police department and its officers as they continue to protect and serve the citizens of Lexington and its surrounding areas.”
“Today’s agreement reflects a shared commitment to meaningful and sustainable change” said U.S. Attorney J.E. Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi. “Through these reforms, we seek not only to address the concerns identified in our investigation, but also to strengthen public trust and promote practices that respect the rights and dignity of every person.”
As part of the agreement, the City and LPD will amend policies and practices regarding fines and fees, bail and release criteria, and potential conflict of interests. LPD will also revise its policies and practices regarding stops, searches, arrests, and use of force policies and update its reporting and review of such activities by officers.
The Department looks forward to working cooperatively with the City and LPD to ensure that they remedy the alleged violations.
The Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi initiated the investigation in March 2023 under 34 U.S.C. 12601 which authorizes the Department to take action to remedy a pattern or practice of deprivation of constitutional rights by state or local law enforcement agencies.
Additional information about the Civil Rights Division’s work regarding the conduct of law enforcement agencies is available on its website at: www.justice.gov/crt/conduct-law-enforcement-agencies.
Editor’s Note: Readers should keep this in mind: this federal action, by the DOJ, was initiated before the current White House took power.
What we have here is probably, once again, another police department that is infested with racists. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department racist texting scandal is a current example of the deeply embedded racism in American Policing. These vile cops, among other things, were competing to see who could stop the most Black drivers.
Also, this DOJ press release language about amending “policies and practices regarding fines and fees, bail and release criteria,” points to the economic predatory nature of racist policing–and the municipal governments whose treasury and budget coffers benefit from the ongoing economic exploitation of Black Americans, by the white-controlled so-called justice system.
And we should also ask ourselves if this “out-of-court settlement agreement” with the City of Lexington, Mississippi, is anything more that a slap-on-the-wrist to end the investigative scrutiny into the Lexington Police Department which the DOJ report says “engages in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations.”
