Time for Transparency from the Department of Justice

We are starting to move forward with our efforts to bring transparency to the Department of Justice’s work in Ferguson.
 
Five Freedom of Information Act Requests have been filed with the Department of Justice, requesting the release of a wide range of documents and information related to the DOJ’s investigation of the Ferguson Police Department.  The requests ask for information related to:

• The DOJ’s analysis of traffic stops and tickets by the Ferguson Police Department (FPD)
• The DOJ’s Community Listening Events to solicit information on interactions with the FPD
• The DOJ’s analysis of occupancy permit violations
• Draft and working documents presented by the DOJ to the FPD
• A copy of the DOJ’s initial Consent Decree proposal

 
We aren’t pursuing this information in an attempt to get the Consent Decree overturned.  We support the great majority of changes to our courts and police department.  However we do continue to believe that the Department of Justice unfairly represented the actions of the FPD, presenting Ferguson as an evil, racist caricature to advance the political and policy aims of the DOJ and satisfy the protest community.  Sometimes it takes a rousing tale of good and evil to bring change, even if it’s not true – “Remember the Maine”.  The civil rights movement had stalled, and is now restarted, a good thing for our country. Ferguson is happy for this.  But it’s hard not to think that the caricature the DOJ created is now standing in the way of progress, standing in the way of a more honest conversation about race.  And the truth is that the reality of race in America is complex and nuanced and just as much local as it is national.  The caricature of Ferguson might have suited the needs of the Justice Department at that moment, but it doesn’t serve the truth or the goal of advancing social justice. 
 
The protesters had a slogan – no justice, no peace.  There can be no justice without the truth, either.  So we are asking Department of Justice to release all of its data, information and analysis related to the Department of Justice’s Report on the Ferguson Police Department.  We are asking for transparency and truth from the Department of Justice.