Among the issues identified in the report was a disproportionate amount of African-Americans targeted for traffic stops and other low-level violations. It said that police relied too heavily on the use of force and were quick to escalate confrontations with citizens, and also found that citizens often were denied their due-process rights in the local jail system and in how the municipal courts processed citations. Fueling the fire, the Justice Department said, was the city’s dependence on fines for minor offenses to fill municipal coffers.
Brockmeyer was called out by name in the report for his role in using fees to garner revenues, through tactics the report said are “widely considered abusive and may be unlawful.” The report also suggested he often overlooked pertinent information, such as criminal histories or a person’s ability to pay, when levying penalties on Ferguson residents, and that he dismissed tickets for his colleagues. Brockmeyer also serves in other judicial positions in the St. Louis area, though it was not known whether he would step down from all of those positions as well, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In his resignation letter, Shaw distanced himself from the allegations in the Justice Department report, but said stepping aside was “in the community’s best interest.”
In a statement, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called the state Supreme Court’s move regarding the municipal court “a solid step forward.”
Article Appeared @http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/03/11/doj-ferguson-report-prompts-resignations-court-takeover?int=a14709