aGameOfThrones
09-09-2014, 04:09 AM
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — The Ferguson City Council, set to meet Tuesday for the first time since the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer, said it plans to establish a review board to help guide the police department and make other changes aimed at improving community relations.
Those would include reducing the revenue from court fines that are used for general city operations in the St. Louis suburb and reforming court procedures, according to a statement released by public relations firm the Devin James Group.
"The overall goal of these changes is to improve trust within the community and increase transparency, particularly within Ferguson's courts and police department," Council Member Mark Byrne said in the statement. "We want to demonstrate to residents that we take their concerns extremely seriously."
Ferguson, a city of 21,000, is about 70 percent black. Its 53-member police department has just three black officers. They mayor and five of the six City Council members are white.
Some in the city have said police disproportionately target black drivers during traffic stops. A 2013 report by the Missouri attorney general's office found that Ferguson police stopped and arrested black drivers nearly twice as often as white motorists, but were also less likely to find contraband among the black drivers.
The City Council has started the process to establish a review board aimed at providing citizen oversight and guidance for police, and it will include people who are not involved in local government, according to the statement.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Ferguson-city-council-says-it-plans-review-board-5743081.php
Those would include reducing the revenue from court fines that are used for general city operations in the St. Louis suburb and reforming court procedures, according to a statement released by public relations firm the Devin James Group.
"The overall goal of these changes is to improve trust within the community and increase transparency, particularly within Ferguson's courts and police department," Council Member Mark Byrne said in the statement. "We want to demonstrate to residents that we take their concerns extremely seriously."
Ferguson, a city of 21,000, is about 70 percent black. Its 53-member police department has just three black officers. They mayor and five of the six City Council members are white.
Some in the city have said police disproportionately target black drivers during traffic stops. A 2013 report by the Missouri attorney general's office found that Ferguson police stopped and arrested black drivers nearly twice as often as white motorists, but were also less likely to find contraband among the black drivers.
The City Council has started the process to establish a review board aimed at providing citizen oversight and guidance for police, and it will include people who are not involved in local government, according to the statement.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Ferguson-city-council-says-it-plans-review-board-5743081.php