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A Mississippi police department routinely discriminated against Black people, targeting them for arrest and using excessive force against them, according to the Department of Justice per HuffPost.
On Thursday (September 26), the Justice Department announced the conclusion of its investigation into the police department in Lexington, a majority-Black town, which was launched after a racist audio recording from former police chief Sam Dobbins surfaced.
“I shot that ni**er 119 times, OK?” Dobbins bragged in the recording, adding that he had killed 13 people while on duty.
In a statement, United States Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the Lexington police department “unlawfully” discriminates against Black people.
“Black people bear the brunt of the Lexington Police Department’s illegal conduct,” Clarke said.
In its report, the DOJ cited that Black people were disproportionally targeted for arrests. The Justice Department found Black people were more likely to be arrested during traffic stops than to be given citations.
“98% of people arrested for traffic offenses were Black," Clarke said.
During arrests, the DOJ said Lexington police “routinely disregard constitutional rules” and "repeatedly” violate people’s rights through the use of excessive force and the sexual harassment of women.
A former Lexington police officer told the DOJ that Black people were arrested more because they lacked the resources to challenge the department. It's easier for Black people "to be abused" and "their rights to be taken," the ex-officer, who is Black, said.
Officers also made at least one arrest every day for every four people in the town, which is over 10 times more than the per capita arrest rate in Mississippi, according to the report. When people are arrested, the DOJ said the police department forces civilians to pay for their freedom through fines and bail.
“Especially for a person in poverty, these fines are no small thing,” Clarke said. “In America, being poor is not a crime. But in Lexington, their practices punish people for poverty. We cannot stand for the criminalization of poverty in this county.”
The city of Lexington denied allegations of police discrimination, arguing that its current chief and many of its police officers were Black.
“This misunderstands the law. Intentional discrimination can occur even when decision-makers do not harbor racist animosity or views,” the report states.
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