Driscoll, the former Civil Rights Division chief of staff, says the Justice Department may have rushed to announce its investigation. “It’s not unprecedented to open [an investigation] that quickly, but that’s certainly unusual,” he says. “Politics factor into that decision, and then, certainly, you have community unrest, and you have people that don’t have a great relationship with the PD.”
Unlike other parts of the Justice Department that operate behind a cloak of secrecy, the DOJ spokeswoman says, the Civil Rights Division often acknowledges or announces investigations into individuals or police departments. But the spokeswoman did not say how the department decided an investigation was necessary.While the Community Relations Service town-hall meetings with Ferguson residents have concluded, DOJ officials remain in the city. Before, during, and after a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson, the officials met with protesters and other key stakeholders such as Mayor Knowles about how to keep the peace.
But Knowles says he thinks the public statements of Attorney General Eric Holder have built an expectation that the Justice Department will deliver the retributive justice that protesters in Ferguson seek. The Civil Rights Division’s pattern of behavior elsewhere indicates that Ferguson is not the only community receiving special attention from the Justice Department. During the past five fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division has opened more than 20 “pattern or practice” investigations into police departments throughout the country — such as the one involving the Ferguson Police Department — which is more than twice as many as were opened in the previous five years, according to a statement from Holder on Thursday. These investigations are conducted to determine whether local law-enforcement officers have engaged in a pattern or practice that deprives people of rights protected by U.S. law or the Constitution.
While a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson in November, the Department of Justice seems to be hunkering down for the long haul. Holder pledged in a Post-Dispatchop-ed published earlier this summer that, “long after the events of Aug. 9 [Brown’s death] have receded from the headlines, the Justice Department will continue to stand with this community.” He did not say what it would take for DOJ to walk away from Ferguson, and that remains to be seen.
The force behind the Justice Department’s lasting presence in Ferguson may be Vanita Gupta, who was selected to lead the Civil Rights Division in October after heading up the American Civil Liberties Union’s efforts on Ferguson. Before beginning her new job, Gupta advocated for the Justice Department to take a more proactive role in its independent federal investigations and called for racial-bias training for forces that receive federal grants. A week ago, Holder announced his intention to “institute rigorous new standards — and robust safeguards — to help end racial profiling once and for all,” which were specifically directed at police. He said the Justice Department is preparing to implement these changes in the coming days. After announcing the changes, Holder went on to say, “In recent weeks, there have arisen great sparks of humanity, and hope, that illuminate the way forward.” Perhaps it’s time the Justice Department stopped igniting fires and started putting them out.
— Ryan Lovelace is a William F. Buckley Fellow at the National Review Institute.