When you work in public service, all email correspondence is subject to public records requests. Meaning, there is no such thing as a private email conversation. When the Department of Justice pulled Ferguson PD's emails, officials were shocked at what they found. 

Overall, yes, police officers put their lives on their line every day to protect and serve. They are public servants.  They do what they can to catch the bad guys and save lives. 

However, there are bad cops, just like there are bad teachers and bad politicians.  No industry is pure and immune from corruption.  The majority of cops in Ferguson are racist.  After the Department of Justice's investigation, there is no denying this as a fact.

Vox reported that the Department of Justice discovered a "pattern of racial bias" after reading the many emails between police officers and court officials.  It was common place to send racial jokes among colleagues; it was almost encouraged as the emails were then forwarded to others because they were so LOL hilarious. 

Even stranger, no one was ever disciplined for showing "outright hostility and prejudice toward the St. Louis suburb's black residents in email exchanges." 

Here are some examples that the Justice Department uncovered, all of which come from current employees and were sent during work hours:

  • A November 2008 email said President Barack Obama won't be president for long because "what black man holds a steady job for four years."

  • A March 2010 email mocked African Americans with horrible stereotypes about their families and how they speak. One line of the email read, "I be so glad that dis be my last child support payment! Month after month, year after year, all dose payments!"

  • An April 2011 email depicted President Obama as a chimpanzee.

  • A May 2011 email said, "An African-American woman in New Orleans was admitted into the hospital for a pregnancy termination. Two weeks later she received a check for $5,000. She phoned the hospital to ask who it was from. The hospital said, 'Crimestoppers.'"

  • A June 2011 email said a man wanted to obtain "welfare" for his dogs because they are "mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and have no frigging clue who their Daddies are."

  • An October 2011 email had a photo of a bare-chested group of dancing women, apparently in Africa, with the caption, "Michelle Obama's High School Reunion."

  • A December 2011 email made jokes based off offensive stereotypes about Muslims.

- Jen H. The Off The Grid Team 

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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.

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