The U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday it found a series of civil rights violations by a small-town Mississippi police department, accusing officers of routinely using excessive force and arresting people who owed fines for minor traffic offenses.
The department’s Civil Rights Division said that it found that Black people in Lexington, Mississippi, were disproportionately targeted by an aggressive police enforcement strategy and that actions by police were driven in part by “intentional discrimination.”
What are Lexington, Mississippi, police accused of?
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Arrests, jails and detains people who cannot pay fines or fees, without assessing their ability to pay;
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Uses excessive force;
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Conducts stops, searches and arrests without probable cause, including jailing people on illegal âinvestigative holdsâ and arresting people solely because they owe outstanding fines;
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Imposes money bail without justification or assessment of ability to pay;
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Jails people without prompt access to court;
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Violates the rights of people engaged in free speech and expression, including by retaliating against people who criticize the police;
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Discriminates against Black people; and
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Operates under an unconstitutional conflict of interest because LPDâs funding depends on the money it raises through its enforcement.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: DOJ says Lexington, Mississippi police routinely use excessive force
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