The Department of Justice and the city of Ferguson have filed a settlement agreement to resolve a federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit was brought against Ferguson by the department after the city initially rejected some of the terms proposed in an agreement put forth to improve the city’s police department and court practices, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
However, the Ferguson City Council finally approved the Justice proposal Tuesday, citing a letter from Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, as a reason why. In the letter, Gupta assured city officials that the projected costs of the proposal had been overstated.
The filing “marks the beginning of a process that the citizens of Ferguson have long awaited – the process of ensuring that they receive the rights and protections guaranteed to every American under the law,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
The agreement — which was put forth following the 2014 police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown — will be in effect until Justice deems Ferguson in full compliance for two years.
Among other things, the settlement requires Ferguson to improve community policing and engagement, train police to remove bias in the force, ensure people can record police activities on the cellphones and train police to avoid the use of force unless necessary.
Ferguson erupted in violence after the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, who was black, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson.
