Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) plans to introduce a bill making it illegal for police departments to enforce laws solely to raise revenue, in light of revelations surrounding the Ferguson Police Department.
Last week, the Justice Department released a report documenting racial bias among officers in Ferguson, Mo.. It said that black residents were targeted for arrests and citations, as well as subject to excessive use of force.
{mosads}The Justice Department’s report further concluded that police and courts in Ferguson were under pressure to issue excessive fines and fees as a source of revenue. Black residents bore the consequences of that practice, the report found.
Ferguson Police view black residents “less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and sources of revenue,” the investigation said.
Cleaver’s bill would make enforcing laws to increase revenue a civil rights violation with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He said it would help prevent police departments from encouraging officers to prioritize profits over public safety.
“The time has come to end the practice of using law enforcement as a cash register, a practice that has impacted too many Americans and has disproportionately affected minority and low-income communities,” Cleaver said in a statement on Monday. “No American should have to face arbitrary police enforcement, the sole purpose of which is to raise revenue for a town, city, or state.”
The legislation also comes after the weekend’s 50th anniversary of the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” civil rights march in Selma, Ala.