Missouri Court Nixes Law Against Revenue-Motivated Policing

ST. LOUIS, MO — Missouri's Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down portions of a law aimed at protecting minorities from biased, revenue-motivated policing in St. Louis County. Known as SB5, the law came in response to a Department of Justice investigation finding a pattern of biased policing following the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson.

SB5 was aimed at stopping a revenue collection model model overwhelmingly targeting minorities, including black residents of Ferguson, who made up 67 percent of the population but accounted for 85 percent of the traffic stops and 93 percent of arrests that generated fee-based revenue from 2012 to 2014, NBC reported.

The law reduced a revenue cap on traffic collection fines and court fees from 30 percent to 12.5 percent.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional, saying it treats St. Louis County differently than the rest of the state, which has a 20-percent cap.

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Photo: A man protests outside the Ferguson Market and Liquor on March 13, 2017 in Ferguson, Missouri. Credit: Michael B. Thomas / Stringer / Getty Images News