That affects over 27 million americans, including himself. And sunday night at 8 00 former navy seal sniper, scott taylor argues that the Obama Administration is hurting our national security. And on American History tv, to the commemoration of bloody sunday, when 50 years ago, voters right advocates began a march from selma to montgomery alabama. On saturday, beginning at noon eastern. We are live from selma with your phone calls, followed by the commemorative ceremony with president obama and congressman lewis. And on sunday, our live coverage continues with a service from the historic ame church, the starting point for the montgomery marches. Find our complete Television Schedule at cspan. Org. Let us know about the programs you are watching. Call us at 202 6263400. Email us at comments cspan. Org. Or send us a tweet cspan comments. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. A federal investigation into the Police Killing of an unarmed black 18yearold in ferguson, missouri released its findings yesterday. It contends that Ferguson Police department is racist and profit driven. You can find the report online at cspan. Org. The Justice Department cleared officer Darren Wilson of civil rights charges. They also called for a number of changes in ferguson. Here is that 40 minute briefing with the attorney general. Good afternoon. I would like to take the next few moments to address the two investigations that the Justice Department has been conducting in missouri. It has lasted several months. The matters that we are here to discuss our significance not only because of the conclusions that the Justice Department is announcing today but also because of the broader conversation and the initiatives that those conversations have inspired across the country on both the local and the national level. Now those initials initiatives have included the causes of misunderstanding and the mistrust between Law Enforcement officers and the communities that they serve here the support and to rebuild confidence wherever it has eroded. Now, nearly seven months have passed since the shooting death of 18yearold Michael Brown in ferguson, missouri. That tragic incident provoked widespread demonstrations and stirred a really strong emotions from those in the ferguson area and around our nation. It also prompted a federal investigation by the United States apartment of justice with the criminal section of our civil rights division, the United StatesAttorneys Office for the eastern district, as well as the fbi, seeking to determine whether the shooting violated federal civil rights law. Now, the promise that i made the promise that i made when i went to ferguson, and at the time we lost our investigation was not that we would arrive at a particular outcome. But rather that we would pursue the facts, wherever they lead. Our investigation has been both fair and regress from the start. It has proceeded independently of the local investigation that concluded in november. And it has been thorough. As part of a wide ranging examination of the evidence, federal investigators interviewed and reinterviewed eyewitnesses and other individuals claiming to have relevant information, and independently canvassed more than 300 residents is to locate and interview additional witnesses. This morning, the Justice Department announced the conclusion of our investigation and released a comprehensive 87 page report documenting our findings and our conclusions that the facts do not support the filing of criminal charges against officer Darren Wilson in this case. Michael browns death, though a tragedy, did not involve prosecutable conduct on the part of officer wilson. Now, this conclusion represents the sound, considered, and independent judgment of the expert career prosecutors within the department of justice. I have been personally briefed on multiple occasions about these findings. I concur with the investigative teams judgment teams judgment. Now, this outcome is supported by the fact we have found fax we have found, but i also know that these findings may not be consistent with some people us expectation. To all those who have closely followed this case and have engaged in the Important National dialogue that it has inspired, i urge you, i urge you to read this report in full. Now, i recognize that the findings in our report may leave some to wonder how the departments findings can differ so sharply from some of the initial, widely reported accounts of what transpired. And i want to emphasize that the strength and integrity of americas Justice System is always rested on its ability to deliver impartial results in precisely these types of difficult circumstances. It hangs to click to the fax regardless of assumptions. It remains not only valid, but essential to question how such a strong alternative version of events was able to take hold so swiftly, and to be accepted so readily. Now, a possible explanation for this discrepancy was uncovered during the course of our second federal investigation, conducted by the civil rights division, to determine whether Ferguson Police officials have engaged in a widespread pattern or practice of violations of the United States constitution or federal law. As detailed and what i will call our report searing report, also released today, this investigation found a community that was deeply polarized. A community where deep distrust and hostility often characterized interactions between please and area Residents Police and area residents. Areas where citizens repeatedly approached Law Enforcement as a way to generate revenue. A community where both policing and Municipal Court practices were found to be disproportionately harmful to africanamerican residents. A community where this seems difficult laced on, in part, from racial bias. And a community where all these conditions, unlawful practices and constitutional violations have not only severely undermined the public trust, a police legitimacy, and made local residents left unsafe, but created a politically charged atmosphere where people feel under assault and under siege by those who are charged to serve and protect them. Of course, violence is never justified. But seeing it in this context a made a highly toxic environment defined by mistrust and resentment, stoked by years of bad feelings, spurred by a illegal and misguided practices it is not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of ferguson like a powder cake. In a sense, members of the community may not have been responding only to a single, isolated confrontation, but also to a pervasive, corrosive, and deeply unfortunate lack of trust. Attributable to numerous constitutional violations by the Law Enforcement officials, including First Amendment abuses , unreasonable searches and seizures, and excessive and dangerous use of force. Exacerbated by severely disappointed version severely disproportionate use against africanamericans, and driven by overriding pressure by the city to use Law Enforcement not as a public service, but as a tool for raising revenue. Now, according to according to our investigation, this endless emphasis on revenue has fostered unconstitutional practices. At nearly every level of fergusons Law Enforcement system. Ferguson Police Officers issued nearly 50 more citations in the last year than they did in 2010. An increase that has not been driven or even on company by a rising crime. As a result of this excessive reliance on ticketing, to the city generates a significant amount of revenue from code provisions. The city collected over 1. 3 million in fines and fees collected by the court. For fiscal year 2015 fergusons city budget anticipates the revenues to exceed 3 million. More than double the total from just five years prior. Our review of the evidence and our conversations with Police Officers, have shown that significant pressure is brought to bear on Law Enforcement personnel to deliver on these revenue increases. Once the system is primed for maximizing revenue, starting with fines and find enforcement, the city relied on the police force to serve as essentially a Collection Agency for the Municipal Court, rather than as a lawn oarsman entity vocus parmelee on maintaining and promoting Public Safety. In a wide fridays of tact is, including disciplinary measures, are used to enjoy certain levels of ticketing by individual officers regardless of Public Safety needs. As a result, it has become commonplace in ferguson for officers to charge multiple violations for the same conduct. Three or four charges for a single stop is considered fairly routine. Some officers even compete to see who can issue the largest number of citations during a single stop. A total that in at least one and its in one instance rose as high as 14. We have even observed that medical violations can result in multiple arrests, jail time, and payments that exceed the cost of the original ticket many times over. Now, for example in 2007, one woman received two parking tickets that together totaled 152. To date, she has paid 550 in fines and fees to the city of ferguson. She has been arrested twice. For having unpaid tickets. And she has spent six days in jail. Yet today, she still inexplicably post ferguson 541. And her story is only one of dozens of similar accounts that are investigation on covered. Overtime, it is clear that this culture of Enforcement Actions being disconnected from the Public Safety needs of the community, and often to the detriment of residence, has given rise to a disturbing and unconstitutional pattern or practice. Our investigation showed that Ferguson Police officers routinely violated the Fourth Amendment in stopping people without reasonable suspicion. Arresting them without probable cause. And using Unreasonable Force against them. According to the Police Department toss on records their own records, officers frequently infringe on residents First Amendment right. They interfere with the right to Record Police activity. And they make enforcement decisions based on the way individuals express themselves. Many of these constitutional violations have become routine. For instance, even though it is illegal for Police Officers to detain a person, even briefly without reasonable suspicion, it has become common practice for officers in ferguson to stop pedestrians and to request identification for no reason at all. Even in cases where Police Encounter start office constitutionally defensible, we found that they frequently rapidly escalate an end up crossing the line. During the summer of 2012, 1 Ferguson Police officer detained a 32yearold africanamerican man who had just finished playing basketball at a park. The officer approached the man while he was sitting in his car, and he was arrested. The cars windows of you to be more heavily tinted then fergusons code allow, so the officer did have the debate around to question him. But with no apparent justification, the officer are suited to accuse the man of being a pedophile. He refuted the man from using his cell phone and ordered him to get out of the car for a patdown search, even though he had no reason to suspect that the man was armed. And when the man objected citing the constitutional rights, the Police Officer drew his service weapon, pointed it at the mans head, and arrested him on eight different counts. Now, this arrest caused the man to lose his job. Unfortunately, this event appears to have been anything but an isolated incident. Our investigation shows that members of Ferguson Police force for gimli escalated rather than diffused, tensions with the residents. Such actions are sometimes accompanied by a First Amendment violation, inc. Including including arrest for talking back to officers. Or engaging in other conduct that is cut to two schlink that is constitutionally protected. This behavior not only exacerbates intentions, it has the effect of stifling community confident that is absolutely vital for paul for effective policing. None of which is more harmful than its pattern of Excessive Force. Now, among the incidence of Excessive Force discovered by our company had to review, some resulted from stops or arrest that had no legal basis to begin with. Others were punitive, more retaliatory in nature. The Police Apartments routine use of tasers was found to be not really unconstitutional, but abusive and dangerous. Records showed a really disturbing history of using unnecessary force against people with mental illness. Our findings indicated that the overwhelming majority of force almost 90 , is directed against africanamericans. Now, this deeply alarming statistic points to one of the most pernicious aspects of the conduct that are investigation uncovered. That these policing practices disproportionately harm africanamerican residents. In fact, our view of the evidence found no alternative explanation for the disproportionate impact on africanamerican residents other than implicit and explicit racial bias. No other basis. Between october 2012 and october 2014, despite making up only 67 of the population, african accounted for a little over 85 of all traffic stops are the Ferguson Police department. Africanamericans were twice as likely than white residents to be searched during a routine traffic stop, even though they were 26 less likely to carry contraband. Between october 2012 and july 20 14 35 black individuals 35 lakh individuals and zero white individuals received five or more citations at the same time. During the same. , africanamericans accounted for 85 of the total charges brought by the Ferguson Police department. Africanamericans made up over 90 of those charged with a highly discretionary offense described as, and i quote manner of walking along roadway. Unquote. Manner of walking along roadway. And use of dogs by Ferguson Police are so have been exclusively reserved for africanamericans. In every case in which Ferguson Police records recorded the race of a person bit by a police dog that person was africanamerican. The evidence of racial bias comes not only froms the to six, but also from remarks made by police, city, and court officials. A federal examination of the record, including a large volume of work emails, shows a number of Public Servants expressing racist comment or gender discrimination. Demonstrating, quote, use and images of africanamericans in which they were seen as the other. Called transient by Public Officials, and characterized as lacking personal responsibility. Now, i want to emphasize that all of these examples statistics, and conclusions are drawn directly from the exhaustive Findings Report that the department of justice has now released. Clearly, these findings and others included in the report demonstrate that although some computed he although some Community Perception of browns death may have been accurate the widespread climates that gave rise to them were all too real. Some of those protesters were right. This is a reality that our investigators repeatedly encounter in their interviews of police and city officials. The conversations with local residents, and the review of thousands of pages of records and documents. This evidence pointed toward an unfortunate an unsustainable situation that not only severely damaged relationships with Law Enforcement and the community, but made professional policing action a more difficult. And, i think very significantly officers at increased risk. Today, now that our investigation has reached its conclusion, it is time it is time for fergusons leaders to take immediate wholesale, and structural corrective action. Let me be very clear. The United States department of justice reserves all of its rights and abilities to enforce compliance and implement basic change. Nothing is off the table. The report from the Justice Department present two sets of immediate recommendations for the Ferguson Police department and the Municipal Court. These recommendations include the implementation of a robust system of true Community Policing increased tracking, review, and analysis of Ferguson Police