[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder [official profile] announced Thursday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] will open an investigation [speech text] to determine whether Ferguson Police officials have systematically violated the US Constitution or federal law. Holder determined the necessity of this investigation based on interviews he conducted with residents in Ferguson in August. The DOJ also plans to assess the St. Louis County Police Department, which trains city police officers in the county, through the Department’s Community-Oriented Policing Services Office [official website]. The review of both St. Louis County and Ferguson’s police departments comes in response to broad concerns [AP report] regarding the police response to demonstrators protesting the shooting death of Michael Brown, with officers using tear gas, armored vehicles and other military equipment [JURIST op-ed] to disperse protesters.

Michael Brown was an African-American teenager who was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer [USA Today report] in August. Many Ferguson residents believe the killing was racially motivated, akin to the 2012 shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin [JURIST news archive] in Florida, and have demonstrated in protest. Last month Missouri Governor Jay Nixon issued an executive order authorizing the Missouri National Guard to provide assistance in the city of Ferguson following a period of civil unrest that prompted the governor to declare a state of emergency [JURIST reports]. Also in August the parents of Trayvon Martin and a similar victim addressed racial discrimination [ACLU report] in the US before the UN. Earlier that week Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International [advocacy websites] issued reports [JURIST report] alleging the use of police force and intimidation tactics to dispel largely nonviolent protesters following the shooting threatens constitutional freedoms.