JACKSON, Miss. — The Department of Justice has reached a settlement forcing reforms in a Mississippi city and its police department, which the department found discriminated against Black people, used excessive force and retaliated against critics.
The settlement, which the department announced Friday, comes after a scathing 2024 DOJ report said the Lexington Police Department routinely violated citizens’ civil rights in the rural, poor, majority-Black city located about 65 miles north of the state’s capital.
Police targeted Black people for arrests, made arrests for low-level offenses to generate money for the police department and locked people up for extended periods of time if they could not afford to pay fines, according to the report.
The out-of-court settlement requires the City of Lexington and its police department to reform practices on a number of issues — from fines and bail to stops, searches and use of force — and bring them into compliance with state and federal law.
The Associated Press called and emailed city and police department officials but did not immediately receive responses.
The 2024 report found the city court had issued arrest warrants for more than 650 people, roughly half of the city’s population, for unpaid fines.
The city and the Lexington Police Department must also dismiss all existing warrants for unpaid fines and fees that violate the law and move to expunge the records of all unlawful fine-based convictions.
Additionally, the city and the Lexington Police Department are barred from creating and implementing a quota or incentive system for stops, warnings, citations, arrests or related revenue.
The DOJ previously found that between 2022 and 2024, the Lexington Police Department made one arrest for every four people in town, more than 10 times the per-capita arrest rate for the state of Mississippi.
The department will also require DOJ-approved trainings on stops, searches, arrests and use of force, in addition to implementing documentation and review systems to ensure such actions are lawful.
The agreement lasts for three years, but could be cut short or extended depending on whether the parties mutually determine the city and police department have reached compliance.
The DOJ launched a probe into the Lexington Police Department in 2023, after citizens accused officers of using roadblocks to target Black drivers, engaging in excessive force, committing sexual assault and arresting people without justification, among other claims.
Bates writes for the Associated Press.
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