Ferguson police chief steps down, effective 19 March

Chief of police is the latest casualty in the fallout of Justice Department report

(Getty Images)

Ferguson, Missouri Police Chief Tom Jackson on Wednesday resigned his post effective 19 March, according to sources close to the matter, adding to the fallout of a US Justice Department report on systematic bias within the city’s police department and courts.

Mr Jackson’s resignation comes the day after Ferguson City Manager John Shaw announced that he was stepping down. A municipal court judge, a court clerk and two police officers have also either resigned or been fired after the Justice Department report was released last week.

City officials are expected to allow Mr Jackson to stay on until 19 March, at which point he will step down.

Ferguson has been under fire since last summer when a white police officer, Darren Wilson, shot an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. The officer was not indicted by a grand jury, but the incident uncovered years of discrimination and broken relations between the majority black populace and the majority white police force.

The Justice Department report said that police and courts in Ferguson for years have targeted blacks for traffic stops and other tickets in a systematic effort to generate revenue.

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