WASHINGTON—Describing its policing practices as totally out of step with the nation as a whole, the U.S. Department of Justice called on Ferguson, MO to take immediate action to align its level of institutional racism with the rest of the country, sources said Thursday. “Our findings suggest that Ferguson requires profound changes to its criminal justice system to bring its routine violations of African-American civil rights in line with acceptable amounts present in police precincts across America,” said Attorney General Eric Holder, adding that a top-to-bottom overhaul could be required to square the Ferguson Police Department’s use of illegal searches and unlawful arrests with the remainder of the U.S. “Ferguson simply cannot continue living in a past in which its reliance on intimidation and excessive force flies in the face of reasonable levels of brutality elsewhere in the country.” Holder went on to say that without reform, residents of Ferguson could never hope to treat their police with the same level of mistrust as everyone else.

Advertisement