Justice Department faults Ferguson protest response

[Jefferson23]

FERGUSON • Police trying to control the Ferguson protests and riots responded with an uncoordinated effort that sometimes violated free-speech rights, antagonized crowds with military-style tactics and shielded officers from accountability, the Justice Department says in a document obtained Monday by the Post-Dispatch.

“Vague and arbitrary” orders to keep protesters moving “violated citizens’ right to assembly and free speech, as determined by a U.S. federal court injunction,” according to a summary of a longer report scheduled for delivery this week to police brass in Ferguson, St. Louis County, St. Louis and Missouri Highway Patrol.

They already have the summary, still subject to revision, that was obtained by the newspaper.

It suggests that last year’s unrest was aggravated by long-standing community animosity toward Ferguson police, and by a failure of commanders to provide more details to the public after an officer killed Michael Brown.

“Had law enforcement released information on the officer-involved shooting in a timely manner and continued the information flow as it became available, community distrust and media skepticism would most likely have been lessened,” according to the document.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/justice-department-faults-ferguson-protest-response/article_32d55f9f-0bf4-51e4-93d6-71b873cb8038.html

[benld74]

1. And the nastiness of the comments of this article

typifies what is wrong in STL 'beneath the radar' of everyday life. Sickened me to even know people were making the comments in the manner they did,

[Jefferson23]

2. Yes, the comments section is ugly, and that is an understatement. I don't know if

there is much value to allowing comments anonymously. If you join a message board
there are generally rules and racist comments and the like often but not always are
addressed..even banned.

These sections which we see offered on many publications don't offer discretion
or not much. The idea of writing an editorial piece where the author is required
to identify himself is not a bad idea to bring back.