Justice Department Finds Mississippi Police Department Violates Rights Of Black Residents

The police department in a majority-Black town in Mississippi has consistently violated the rights of residents with illegal arrests, as well as by retaliating against department critics, according to a Department of Justice report released Thursday.

The Justice Department launched an investigation into the police department in Lexington last year after several complaints from local attorneys and activists became publicized, as did an audio recording of the town’s former police chief, Sam Dobbins, bragging about shooting a Black man 119 times.

“I shot that ni**er 119 times, OK?” Dobbins was heard saying in the recording, where he also claimed he had killed 13 people while on duty.

The police department “unlawfully” discriminates against Black people, United States Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said during a press conference. Lexington, which is about an hour from the capital of Jackson, has a population of approximately 1,200 inhabitants; 76% of that is Black people. The DOJ investigation that just concluded was the second on the town since 1963, in which the town was previously found liable for intimidating Black people to vote.

“Black people bear the brunt of the Lexington Police Department’s illegal conduct,” Clarke said.

Clarke (and the DOJ report) also noted that Black people were disproportionately targeted for arrests and that officers did not treat white residents the same way. She said that “98% of people arrested for traffic offenses were Black.”

On the day the investigation was launched, Lexington police officers chased down a man and stunned him with a Taser until he foamed at the mouth, according to the report. Police had arrested him multiple times for minor incidents over previous months, and the report noted officers had kept him in jail because he could not afford the fines.

“Especially for a person in poverty, these fines are no small thing,” Clarke said. “In America, being poor is not a crime. But in Lexington, their practices punish people for poverty. We cannot stand for the criminalization of poverty in this county.”

In the report, the DOJ noted that Lexington police “routinely disregard constitutional rules” when they stop and search people, as well as “repeatedly” violate people’s rights, use excessive force, and sexually harass women while in uniform.

Arrests in the small town also drastically increased over the years. In 2019, Lexington police arrested 70 people, but that number increased to 375 in 2022 before dropping down to 294 in 2023. Officers made at least one arrest per every four people in town, amounting to more than 10 times the per capita arrest rate in Mississippi, according to the report.

After Dobbins’ departure, issues with Lexington police persisted. As the DOJ explained, when people are arrested, the police department makes the civilian purchase their freedom by paying fines, money bail and other fees that many of the residents cannot afford.

In January this year, officers arrested a woman at a Dollar General store for an improperly parked vehicle.

While one officer initially planned to let her go, his supervisor advised him not to.

“She’s supposed to be arrested … So you need to take her ass to jail,” the supervisor said, according to the report.

The officer agreed, and they took the woman to the police station, where she was chained to a bench and released only after she paid the department.

The DOJ also found that officers arrested a man for driving without a license because the number of arrests police made increased their pay and wages.

“If we don’t arrest you, we get days at home [without pay]. I can’t afford no days at home,” one officer said to the man, according to the report.

Additionally, the report said that Black people have “literally paid the price” for the small police department’s efforts to raise funds through invasive arrests of civilians. The city of Lexington dismissed the Justice Department’s investigation of police discrimination against Black people, arguing that its current chief and most of its force are Black. But the DOJ disputed that.

The Justice Department found that Lexington police are more likely to arrest Black people during traffic stops than give them citations, compared to white drivers in the area. Black people are arrested 16.4% of the time, as opposed to white drivers, who were arrested 2.9% of the time.

A former officer with the Lexington Police Department also explained to the DOJ why Black people were arrested more, saying that they lack the resources to challenge the department’s authority, while white people had the resources to avoid issues with law enforcement. The ex-officer, who is Black, added that it is easier for Black people “to be abused” and their “rights to be taken,” indicating a discriminatory targeting of Black residents in the town, despite the race of its police chief.

“This misunderstands the law. Intentional discrimination can occur even when decision-makers do not harbor racist animosity or views,” the report said.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), reacted to the Justice Department’s findings on social media saying civilians in Lexington deserve policing that will serve the community’s best interests.

“The citizens of Lexington, MS deserve law enforcement who are there to protect and serve—never to threaten or harm. Our communities deserve safety and respect,” Thompson said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).