OK, they use proxies. But the words are powerful: "racketeering" "organized crime." As often as I am disgusted by the Post, this morning's article by Terrence McCoy on the DOJ investigation report of the Ferguson Police gets to the vital context quickly and effectively:
Of all the harrowing stories buried inside the Justice Department’s report on the Ferguson Police Department, one of the most illustrative begins with an illegally parked car. The year was 2007. And a Ferguson officer who noticed the illegally parked vehicle issued its driver, an African American woman, two citations and a ticket for $151.
To the driver, who had bounced in and out of homelessness, the fine was draconian. She couldn’t pay it in full. So over the next seven years, the woman missed several deadlines and court dates. That tacked on more fees, more payment deadlines, more charges. She ultimately spent six days in jail. All because she didn’t park her car correctly. As of December 2014, the woman had paid the city of Ferguson $550 resulting from a $151 ticket. And she still owes $541.
In this case, once again, the Post did the right thing: they followed the money. As with their big and influential
civil forfeiture article recently, the Post article hits the mark by explaining the all-important context. All terrorist organizations, whether ISIS or the Ferguson Police, need funding sources. Cracking down on the funding will be a key factor in reducing the terrorism.
Please read the article -- it's important that the Post gets hits for real journalism rather than their usual nonsense -- and below are some additional thoughts from the article up to the nub of (and hopefully not beyond) fair use.
The staff also patted themselves on the back for charging more for petty offenses than other municipalities. “Our investigation found instances in which the court charged $302 for a single Manner of Walking violation; $427 for a single Peace Disturbance violation; $531 for high Grass and Weeds; $777 for Resisting Arrest; and $792 for Failure to Obey, and $527 for Failure to Comply, which officers appear to use interchangeably,” the Justice Department found.
And when people couldn’t pay, they were arrested. Around 21,000 people live in Ferguson. But in 2013, the city’s municipal court issued a staggering 32,975 arrest warrants for minor offenses, according to Missouri state records. “Folks have the impression that this form of low-level harassment isn’t about public safety,” Thomas Harvey of ArchCity Defenders, which explored the practices in a report last summer, told NPR. “It’s about money.”
The article also highlights emails between the police and the Ferguson city manager unearthed by the DOJ investigation that celebrate the police "success" at extracting ever-higher fees from the population. It's revolting stuff, and organized crime indeed.