Riverside Police Supervisors Review Report on Ferguson

Every supervisor on the Riverside Police Department staff was required to read the Department of Justice Report on the investigation of the Ferguson Police Department in Missouri.

A staff meeting was held to discuss the report, and Chief Thomas Weitzel instructed his supervisors to discuss the report at every roll call with each officer in the department, including sworn and civilian employees, according to a department news release.

Weitzel said he wanted to openly discuss the U.S. Department of Justice’s findings because there are many lessons to be learned from the conduct of the Ferguson Police Department.

The 102-page report, published March 4, highlights how Ferguson’s police practices, including unconstitutional stops and arrests, “racial bias,” and “lack of community engagement,” eroded community trust over time.

“While the patterns and practices of the Ferguson Police Department are an example of a relationship with the community gone bad, my intent was to have the officers read the U.S. Department of Justice Report on what we can do as a nation going forward,” Weitzel said in the release. “My emphasis had nothing to do with the incident or the officer involved as that was already decided by local and federal authorities in Missouri. While Riverside is not Ferguson, it is a small to medium size suburban police department and no one could have imagined that the events that unfolded in Ferguson this past year could happen to any community let alone a small suburban community. I believe my department can learn from the events that transpired and integrate this knowledge with our community policing strategies.”

Photo of Chief Thomas Weitzel and Ferguson Police Department Report provided by Weitzel.