WASHINGTON -- The Ferguson Police Department engaged in patterns of arrests and racial bias that violate the Constitution and federal law, the Justice Department will say in a report it began after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Law enforcement officials familiar with the department's findings said Tuesday that the report will show that Ferguson police disproportionately used force against blacks and made arrests with no probable cause. It also found cases of racial bias in police practices and in emails by Ferguson police.
The report also says the combination of racial bias and a dependency upon fines for revenue has led to distrust between police and black residents.
Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce findings from the investigation of the department as early as today. It is separate from an investigation over whether the civil rights of Brown were violated when he was killed by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9.
The Justice Department would not comment on when the civil-rights investigation findings will be announced.
Several local and state officials briefed by the Justice Department on Tuesday said they expected both announcements today.
Anthony Gray, attorney for Brown's family, said it's unfortunate that it took a federal investigation to draw conclusions widely known in the St. Louis area.
"It's upsetting, but I'm not surprised," he said.
"This wasn't just about one teen being shot down in the street in broad daylight," Gray said, "but rather this came out of a mindset and a culture within the Police Department that allowed this to occur as it did."
The report will say that between 2012 and 2014, blacks accounted for 85 percent of those subject to vehicle stops, 90 percent who received citations and 93 percent of those arrested. Blacks made up 67 percent of the Ferguson population during that period.
It also will say that black drivers were twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during vehicle stops but were 26 percent less likely to be in possession of illegal material.
In documented cases of use of force by Ferguson police, 88 percent were against blacks, according to the report.
Among the findings likely to provoke reaction, sources say, are two emails written by Ferguson police and municipal court officials.
One, written in November 2008, said Barack Obama could not be president for four years because "what black man holds a steady job for four years."
Another, written in May 2011, read: "An African-American woman in New Orleans was admitted into the hospital for a pregnancy termination. Two weeks later she received a check for $5,000. She phoned the hospital to ask who it was from. The hospital said, 'Crimestoppers.'"
The Justice Department investigation found that there was a pattern and practice of racial bias in Ferguson's municipal courts, with blacks less likely than others to have their cases dismissed by a municipal judge, more likely to have a warrant entered in their cases and more likely to be arrested during traffic stops because of outstanding warrants.
The investigation also found that from April to September last year, 95 percent of people held at the Ferguson jail longer than two days were black.
Blacks in Ferguson are also more likely than others to be charged with offenses such as "manner of walking in roadway" or "failure to comply," according to the report.
Justice Department investigators examined 35,000 pages of records and interviewed city leaders as well as hundreds of residents.
Information for this article was contributed by Koran Addo of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A Section on 03/04/2015