JEFFERSON CITY — The U.S. Department of Justice today, released its report on the Ferguson Police Department. Many of the facts and statistics in the report are damaging, but these findings come as no surprise to most Ferguson and St. Louis area residents.

“While all policemen are not bad cops, the Department of Justice report does not surprise me at all,” said Sen. Nasheed. "For decades, this culture of policing has spread through the St. Louis area like a cancer, and it explains the terrible relationship between law enforcement and the community.”

The DOJ report reveals what it calls “intentional discrimination on the basis of race.” The report describes a blatant and systematic targeting of African-Americans. In Ferguson, African-Americans make up 85 percent of all traffic stops, 90 percent of tickets issued, and 93 percent of arrests. In addition to the numbers, the report also reveals several racially derogatory e-mails exchanged between officers in the department.

Senator Nasheed continued, “This behavior by the Ferguson Police Department is known by those living in and around the area, and was highlighted by the events following the Michael Brown shooting. Though these findings are not surprising to anyone, it does support the slogans of protestors who have been misunderstood throughout the protests and demonstrations: ‘No justice. No peace. No racist police.’”

“We all know that this systematic racism appears not just in Ferguson, but throughout the St. Louis area, the state of Missouri, the Mid-West, and the United States as a whole. This institutional racism needs to be weeded out of our police departments.” Sen. Nasheed said.

Senator Nasheed then declared, “This documentation is extremely important because the events that happened in Ferguson will be in students’ history books in the coming years.”

Senator Nasheed stated, “The only way to move forward from here is to dismantle the Ferguson Police Department. I suggest that another police department, one without a persistent culture of racism, be contracted to step in and provide policing for Ferguson.”

Through protests and demonstrations, many people have voiced their concerns about unfair treatment by the police in the wake of the death of Michael Brown. The statistics presented in the Department of Justice report have officially documented the racial oppression of the people in the city of Ferguson.