Ferguson. In 2013 the town issued over 24,000 arrest warrants..

[SomethingFishy]

In a town with 21,000 people... Yes you saw those numbers right.

“Despite Ferguson’s relative poverty, fines and court fees comprise the second largest source of revenue for the city, a total of 2,635,400,” according to the ArchCity Defenders report. And in 2013, the Ferguson Municipal Court issued 24,532 arrest warrants and 12,018 cases, “or about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household.”

The death of Michael Brown was just the straw. The residents of Ferguson have had enough, and the only people I can see blaming them are.. yes, privileged white people.

Sorry forgot the link...

http://www.newsweek.com/ferguson-profiling-police-courts-shooting-264744

[PearliePoo2]

1. What??? Where's my 'friggin calculator?

365 days in a year. 24,000 arrest warrants...no, that can't be..can it?

[SomethingFishy]

4. 3 warrants per household.

1.5 court cases.. per household

This place was a powder keg. Makes you wonder how many other communities are dealing with this.

[billhicks76]

82. Holy Crap

Last edited Tue Aug 19, 2014, 07:59 AM - Edit history (1)

This is a criminal scam oppression against the people. All you idiot TeaBaggers out there...this is real TYRANNY!!! All under the guise of the Drug War which according to these stats is a criminal act in itself. This is beyond outrageous. No wonder this is happening. They want Revolution. Many don't know this but it was one police brutality incident where cops were corrupted by their own drug war that sparked a nation in Egypt recently.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

93. Seriously. I'm sure the TeaBaggers are cheering on the Ferguson Riot squad.

[billhicks76]

95. Definitely

They never cared about Tyranny or they would've protested Bush. They are motivated by racism pure and simple.

[lapfog_1]

7. That's an average of over one arrest per day for each cop

7 days a week.

[Thav]

42. It can be that high.

If you get a speeding ticket, and don't follow through with handling it, you could get 3 warrants issued for you. one for the original ticket, one for failure to appear in court, and (possibly) one for violating your promise to appear. If you get 3 tickets, that could be 9 warrants.

Still, that's a LOT of warrants for such a small town.

[Iggo]

76. ...and if that happened 8000 times...

Yeah, it's possible.

[jmowreader]

83. It's only conceivable if the court does illegal shit...

like moving up court dates then "forgetting" to tell the defendants. Eight thousand times a year for 22,000 people? Naaaah...

[PatSeg]

91. Yep

<Exacerbating the problem, the report says, are "a number of operational procedures that make it even more difficult for defendants to navigate the courts." A Ferguson court employee reported, for example, that “the bench routinely starts hearing cases 30 minutes before the appointed time and then locks the doors to the building as early as five minutes after the official hour, a practice that could easily lead a defend net arriving even slightly late to receive an additional charge for failure to appear.”>

http://www.newsweek.com/ferguson-profiling-police-courts-shooting-264744

Sounds like a major scam and taking advantage of poor people. No wonder people are so angry. This was years in the making.

[oldandhappy]

2. why does anyone stay there??!!

grief. Three warrants per household? But the whites did not get any, so that means even more for the majority population. Sick.

[dixiegrrrrl]

61. ." why does anyone stay there??!!"

65% of housing in Ferguson is owned...means less than 33% renters.
hard to pack up and sell in current market, hard to find buyers

Estimated per capita income in 2012: $19,775
Unemployment rate is 7%

Mar. 2012 cost of living index in Ferguson: 89.3 (less than average, U.S. average is 100)

Down here in the South, people tend not to move around a lot, and not to move far from "home" and family.

Here's a great source to learn quickly about a town or city, and extrapolate important info:
city-data.com

Link for Ferguson:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Ferguson-Missouri.html

[oldandhappy]

80. Thank you.

Just looks horrific from a distance. But I know this is a specific incident. Home, family, house -- makes sense. And I hope for a better life for everyone.

[HooptieWagon]

3. Holy crap.

I suspected such, but even still those numbers are astounding. It should be quite clear to everyone the nature of the problem there.

[MohRokTah]

5. So the Ferguson PD is a profit center.

IT drives revenue for the local government.

And this mess is now disrupting that.

Fucking unbelievable.

[SomethingFishy]

6. According to the article 2/3rds of the city revenue

comes from court costs...

[MohRokTah]

8. IT's the DWB tax.

Fucking outrageous!

[SomethingFishy]

10. Exactly, they even called it that in the article..

At least Newsweek is digging in and trying to get some facts out there..

[tblue37]

36. More like a BWB (Breathing while Black) tax! nt

[whopis01]

59. more like LWB tax.

Why only hassle those driving? - everyone living there is a target.

[lumberjack_jeff]

101. From my read, it says that court fees are the second largest source of income.

Therefore not two-thirds.

[FarPoint]

11. This is very common these days...

Those traffic ticket camera's are always placed in poor neighborhood areas. I rarely see them in middle or upper crust areas of a town.

[El Shaman]

29. I hear ya

El Po boy.

[pennylane100]

35. I wonder if the RICCO law can be used here.

I am no legal expert but I know that is for organized crime cases. This would seem to fit that bill.

[underpants]

96. Yes it would appear that the cops are shaking down the residents

For at least the cops salaries

[freebrew]

100. Missouri's Macks Creek Law states:

a city or town is allowed no more than 35% of its revenue to come from traffic fines.

This town is way over that limit. The mayor and BOA should be indicted for that alone.

[lumberjack_jeff]

103. How much of their revenue comes from fines?

The newsweek link is silent on that issue. Do you have another?

[freebrew]

104. Someone stated 2/3 of their revenue from the court costs.

I believe that qualifies, if true. Another small town in MO, New Melle, was just found in violation and is dealing with disbanding its PD altogether. As well as an audit by the state for 'lost' court records.

[lumberjack_jeff]

105. The newsweek article says that fines are the second largest source of income.

therefore, 2/3 can't be true.

[freebrew]

106. Guess that's right... you win.

[uponit7771]

50. +1

[littlemissmartypants]

71. Yes and will be a profit center in every USA town soon.

For the first time in history my little town has retained a lawyer to look for money in any place possible. The county has done the same it is now removing people from homes off property with taxes that cannot be paid. The financial crisis isn't over. Not Even Close. The weasels have invaded our municipalities and they want us to suffer, everyone, everywhere.

All we have left is revolution.


Love, Peace and the Righteous Fight!
~ Lmsp

[bettyellen]

9. can't "afford" dash cam installation- but " fines and court fees comprise the second largest source

of revenue for the city"
Seems like revenues would go down if they had.

[VanGoghRocks]

12. I'm usually not much given to CT matter, but your comment has really

got my CT juices flowing.

Sincere hat tip for a thought-provoking comment.

[bettyellen]

16. I read here they claimed they were not installed because it costs 3K per camera.....

but a DUer who has done this work says the high end (govt contract price) for top of the line installation is $500.
They have had the cams for eight months or so.

[Bettie]

19. Given the information in the OP

It's pretty obvious why they don't want them installed.

I've said before a decent cop would want his or her actions recorded.

This department clearly has a culture that encourages behaviors that would not reflect well on them if they were recorded.

[8 track mind]

37. and i will stand behind that figure

[bettyellen]

60. Thanks for providing those details! I'm wondering if we should start a kickstarter to install those

friggen dash cams. The PD there seem to be telling lots of lies to the public.

[8 track mind]

88. I would install them for free

They cover the transportation, and lodging expenses in Furgeson. If i drive, I can stay with family in Texas and southwestern Missouri on the way there. Flying me from Las Vegas, NV to St. Louis would probably be the cheaper option which is fine with me. No rental car needed, pick me up at the airport/hotel and transport me to the PD's auto shop. I will ride in the back of the squad car if that suits them.

I will cover my own meals. I will get it done under budget, and if i don't, i will reimburse the Furgeson PD for all costs....


I'm doing this to prove a point. $3000 is an awful lot of money to install something as simple as a camera

[bettyellen]

89. Do you have credential to do it as a govt contract? I think you should write an open letter to the

FPD and cc the media with your offer. Lets do a kickstarter to support you with transportation and lodging! I did not see this story covered anywhere but Newsweek, I think it needs to get out there to a wider audience!

[SomethingFishy]

14. Exactly, they give the tickets to poor people who can't afford to pay the ticket

so intends up in court and goes to warrant. So instead of a lousy $50 bucks for a traffic ticket they now collect hundreds per person for court costs, fines, and fees.

[Number23]

64. Fabulous point, bettyellen

[bettyellen]

66. That Newsweek article is quite the indictment of what is going on there-

none of it good.

[Stellar]

13. Rachel Maddow called it last Wednesday...

'White Privilege'.

[BklnDem75]

15. Looks like they need more than a special prosecutor for this case...

They need a special judge as well.

[JimDandy]

17. Very telling. n/t

[KittyWampus]

18. Whoa. That is infuriating. No wonder people have had enough.

[freshwest]

20. Organized Crime. Does it fall under RICO?

[SomethingFishy]

22. Good question.. The Justice Dept needs to look into this...

They want protesters off the street? Arrest the cop and start investigating.

[freshwest]

47. Yes... But the corruption of revenue by extorting citizenry is what I meant.

[SomethingFishy]

67. Sorry, that is what I was talking about investigating...

The shooting should be handled by the city or state but the extortion should be an FBI issue. I should have been more clear

[freshwest]

70. We're on the same page. But eliminating the extortion would empower the people of Ferguson.

It would stop the steam roller at its beginning. Equal economic power gives would be oppressers a reality check. I mentioned RICO because they follow the money and can take them down that way - although it's almost never used anymore. And I've never heard it used against government entities. Perhaps I'm all off, but I want this addressed at the very root of the problem. I think racism is economic first and foremost for those who run things. The ones who buy into it and get full of hate are just tools.

[LittleGirl]

21. unbelieveable!

OMG, they're trapped.

[SomethingFishy]

23. Exactly. Trapped. With no recourse.

Frankly the protesters have been remarkably calm considering the shit they have been putting up with.

[malaise]

24. Check out who owns the private prison system in

Missouri

[avebury]

26. Who owns them? nt

[malaise]

28. I don't know but I'm betting

they're making bucket loads of money

[arcane1]

52. It might just be good old-fashioned grift. Wikipedia says they don't use privatized prisons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Department_of_Corrections

As of 2010 the state did not use private prisons or export prisoners to facilites in other states.[2] The two private prisons in the state (Integrity Correctional Center near Holden, Missouri and Bridewell Prison in Bethany, Missouri) both closed in 2010, and had never held Missouri state inmates.

[malaise]

55. That's very good news

Thanks

[arcane1]

56. Small blessings, I guess. They're still making $$ by exploiting poor people.

[xmas74]

85. ICC was purchased by the county and now holds the county jail.

I remember when that deal went through.

[malthaussen]

25. Busy little beavers, aren't they?

That's more than one warrant per officer per day, close to two if you calculate by a five-day work week.

That's an astonishing figure.

-- Mal

[Rozlee]

30. Terrell Heights down in San Antone used to give their cops a toaster or a Mr. Coffee if they

exceeded their quotas back in the 80's. Which caused a stink at the time. These guys must be getting one hell of a bigger incentive payoff.

[freshwest]

58. Not if they do a hundred things a day. And I doubt if they think about it at all. They are

legally required to carry out court orders, enforce laws and keep everyone coloring within the lines.

I'm not a cop, nor do I have them in my family, we didn't need that kind of employment. This is what I've observed over the years, with good and bad cops, but won't go into the bad stuff here.

Cops have some leeway on how they do their jobs of observing, trying to resolve things and protect people or property. But not with court orders, which is what a warrant is and not all generated by their observations directly but many other events they are neither involved in nor initiate.

But the fact their revenue, thus their jobs, which may be some of the best paid in that impoverished area, would tend to make the department tell them to enforce 'infringements' of the law zealously. That is a form of corruption, such as towns that annex highways that skirt them to finance operations with speed traps. They don't maintain those roads but take advantage of the opportunity of those passing by, who are not living or engaging in crimes in their towns.

The major, often ignored problem in Ferguson is the same as in many black communities with these events going on, it's poverty. Since the more stressed one is in terms of finances, the more likely one is to 'color outside the lines' or disregard administrative orders. And not be able to pay promptly when a vehicle inspection, license plate renewal or taillight is not handled in a timely matter. It's not a matter of morals or not wanting to do the 'right thing.' There isn't enough money to keep up the pretense of being middle class.

Overt racism is just the visible part of underlying discimination. Now, if I was in charge, I'd do this:

Hire people from the community to go out and ask each household what their needs were. Health, mental health, quality of housing, employment, debts, addictions, legal troubles, whatever. Ask them to voluntarily cite what their problems are.

They are owed that, or reparations. Get it over with. I suspect poverty, debt, health, the quality of their housing, trouble with transportation, lack of employment, needed education impact all of the residents.

Offer the services without strings attached to make their lives work to become independent and free of the goat rope that is our current government assistance system except in catastrophes. Stop making their lives a man-made catastrophe.

Make a debt jubilee of those things they will never be able to pay to stop that cycle of poverty. This will occur as soon as we tax the 1% until they holler and government gets fully funded to get rid of poverty. Until then, we'll continue with the bread and circuses.

Just sayin'

[bettyellen]

68. if they are choosing to stop more African American, maybe because they know their will be less

blow back- chance the person will lawyer up or "call someone" then it is systemic racism. We know this is how LE treats drug law enforcement too.
Let's find out the stats on tickets for jaywalking too, I bet the same pattern holds up. LE knows an easy target when they see it.

[freshwest]

69. Oh, they target black for all that stuff. I'm convinced of that 100%. I'm too old to miss that.

It's why I always give the black person the benefit of the doubt as the pattern it's absolutely 'Pavlovian' as johnlucas describes it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017209951#post20

He defines the sickness that must be exposed and healed.

[Lars39]

27. Sounds like these poor people have *always* been under the boot heel.

Massive investigations need to happen before there aren't enough people left to vote these scumbags out of office, with or without the Feds wading in and draining that toxic swamp of a local government.

[safeinOhio]

31. J.J. push for voter registration

must have them shaking in their boots.

[JEB]

32. Extracting money from the under class.

[Rozlee]

33. South African apartheid reigns in Ferguson, Mi.

I hope their entire system collapses under this scrutiny. Post racial society, my ass. Do you hear me, Roberts Supreme Court? Your Voting Rights Act of 2014 needs to be stuffed up your ass.

[TheKentuckian]

34. Extraction from the poor by boot heel at gunpoint. Fuck tha Police!

A publicly funded and supported, vicious, right wing gang of marauders.

[truth2power]

40. Yessirree....I'll second that. n/t

[SoapBox]

44. I second the second.

I'm sick and tired of funding the Police State Militia of Terrorists.

They serve to protect...their own.

[hifiguy]

45. Eeyup.

[BobbyBoring]

38. I hope.....

That a bunch of law suits relieves them of their I'll gotten gains and then some.

[truth2power]

39. "...source of revenue... there you have it. End of discussion.

Seriously, though....Ho-ly crap!!! It just gets worse and worse.

[Ikonoklast]

41. From the link...

Exacerbating the problem, the report says, are "a number of operational procedures that make it even more difficult for defendants to navigate the courts." A Ferguson court employee reported, for example, that “the bench routinely starts hearing cases 30 minutes before the appointed time and then locks the doors to the building as early as five minutes after the official hour, a practice that could easily lead a defend net arriving even slightly late to receive an additional charge for failure to appear."

The fuckers, it's done deliberately.

[cyberswede]

54. Jeezus!

How can they get away with that?

[Jacoby365]

57. That's insane

and it pisses me off. That makes me want to show up in Ferguson to protest, and I live in California. Some people really need to PAY for this.

[hifiguy]

43. ?????

[Trillo]

46. Felony disenfranchisement?

Can't vote if you're a felon. What percentage of those warrants end up with felony convictions?

[uponit7771]

51. AMEN AND AMEN!!!

[Number23]

65. Yet ANOTHER fabulous point in this thread

[sheshe2]

48. There is something very dark and ugly about Ferguson.

And I am not just talking about the murder of Mike.

[Rex]

75. The PD scurried away and hid their star cop.

There is a foul smell coming out of Ferguson. I am very thankful the DoJ stepped in, I know asking if Obama get involved got a few around here steamed. Nixon showed no signs of leadership for days. The POTUS had to step in...you know how we can never count for Congress to do shit about it.

I hope the feds uncover every little detail about the PD.

[sheshe2]

77. The foul smell would be the festering boil,

that has been lanced. The evil is spilling out into the light of day and it is not pretty.

I am glad the FBI and DOJ are all going to be there, thanks to Obama. I really want to see heads roll and a trial and a conviction, Rex.

Justice.

[Rex]

78. We as a nation need it and we will see the leadership get to the bottom of it.

I trust the FBI to root out civil rights violations. If the local PD thinks they are going to skate on this, then they don't know the history of the federal government.

We shall see what happens with a grand jury.

[harun]

107. +1

[Spitfire of ATJ]

49. You give EVERYONE in town a criminal history or claim they associate with known criminals....

And then claim nobody in town is eligible to join the police or any other public office or be hired by any employer for any position of responsibility.

How many there have had their ability to vote stolen from them?

[grasswire]

53. how many towns are like Ferguson?

I am so distressed about this.

[SomethingFishy]

62. That is what concerns me most...

The only reason we know about Ferguson is because of Michael Brown.. and the reporter from Newsweek who bothered to dig this up.. How many other communities are dealing with this?

[HooptieWagon]

79. A few thousand, perhaps. nt

[moondust]

63. Looks predatory.

Profits and disenfranchisement, cops that don't live there.

Needs some comparison stats for other towns.

[woo me with science]

72. K&R. Important post.

[Rex]

74. Funny who you never

see in any of these threads. Where are they? I thought they cared about law and order.

[tea and oranges]

73. Ferguson needs to be liberated

from it's police of mass destruction.

Now it's time for regime change.

Unbelievable that Ferguson ptb have been able to keep a town hostage & use it as their own departmental atm.

They should each & every one of them be tried for their crimes!

[jtuck004]

81. They need the Union Army, not the National Guard. n/t

[Horse with no Name]

84. Astonishing. I live in the same type of town

same demographics...same white power running it.

That being said...I don't think we come close to these types of figures.

HOWEVER...there is a very good explanation (to me) what warrants of this magnitude do...

they keep (black) people away from the polls...which is why they haven't been able to break the cycle of white power over a predominantly black town. They are afraid to vote. I bet if you look closely enough into this, that they have a heavy police presence at the voting booths.

[logosoco]

97. This is it exactly (well, aside from the money).

In the state of Missouri, a convicted felon does not have the right to vote while they are still on parole or probation.
And I would imagine once a person is free of that mess, they don't really want to sign up to vote or have much to do with "the system".

If they consider that "altercation" on the video they are showing a "felony", I can only imagine what else is considered a felony.

[nilram]

86. wow. just wow.

[Capt. Obvious]

87. BUT WE DON'T KNOW ALL THE FACTS YET

DON'T BE SO QUICK TO JUDGE!!!111!1!

[underpants]

98. Now now Capt. the authorities are investigating themselves and they will tell us what they find

in the mean time bits of info painting the victim as deserving to die will be released and repeated until you, the public, are convinced.


It's a bit different than the "clear cut" case against Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl huh?

[woo me with science]

90. kick

[blkmusclmachine]

92. ,

,

[Enthusiast]

94. That is outrageous!

Discussion ended. How can anyone argue with that figure?

[Heidi]

99. Kick, kick, kick!!!

[GoCubsGo]

102. The modern version of the speed trap. n/t

[Marrah_G]

108. OMG!

That is insane.

[woo me with science]

109. kick

[hexola]

110. Are there any other stats from other cities for comparison?

That might add some perspective to this already shocking sounding stat...

[X_Digger]

111. Yeah, data without a basis for comparison is.. data. n/t

[woo me with science]

112. Huge K&R

And how many towns like this across America already?

[woo me with science]

113. kick