Judge Signs Off On Deal To Make Ferguson Curb Police Abuses

ST. LOUIS -- A federal judge on Tuesday approved a deal between the city of Ferguson and the Justice Department that aims to end the patterns of unconstitutional policing and municipal court practices that helped spark unrest in the St. Louis suburb following the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August 2014.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry signed off on the consent decree after hearing from supporters and opponents of the deal for several hours at the federal courthouse. While the vast majority of speakers either supported the deal or wanted aspects of the consent decree strengthened, a number of Ferguson residents indicated they still didn’t recognize the legitimacy of the complaints of residents in the majority-black city that were recognized in the DOJ report. One white Ferguson resident claimed the federal government had “empowered the criminal element” in the city.