FERGUSON, MO./WASHINGTON –  The U.S. Justice Department sued Ferguson, Missouri, on Wednesday
to force the city to change its police department and court system after the
federal government found both to be biased against minorities.

The St. Louis suburb, a symbol of problems with policing and
race in the United States, earlier on Wednesday said it wanted to change an
agreement it had negotiated with the federal government due to the costs
involved.

“The residents of Ferguson have waited nearly a year for
their city to adopt an agreement that would protect their rights and keep them
safe,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference.

She said the agreement that was decided upon had been
painstakingly negotiated and Ferguson officials knew that rejecting it would
invite litigation.

Ferguson officials had no immediate comment on the civil rights
lawsuit, said spokesman Jeff Small.

The Justice Department initiated a civil rights investigation
into Ferguson’s policing after an unarmed black teenager was killed by a white
police officer in 2014.

It was one of several killings of black men, mostly by white
officers, that started a nationwide debate about the use of excessive force by
police, especially against minorities.

It resulted in a Justice Department report that was extremely
critical of Ferguson’s police and court systems.

Mayor James Knowles told a news conference that reforms had to
be affordable and attainable. “It serves no one’s purpose for us to
fail,” he said.

Ferguson’s city council voted on Tuesday to accept the reform
agreement, called a consent decree, as long as the city did not have to
increase police officers’ pay and police staffing levels. It also said it
wanted more time to comply with the other terms.

Knowles said that only in the last two weeks had the city been
able to analyze the costs of implementing the decree.

He and city council members said Ferguson had already made some
reforms, including community policing and a civilian review board to oversee
police.

Civil rights advocates warned that litigation with the Justice
Department could cost more than implementing the agreement.

“This
decision only creates the potential for the type of litigation that creates
more financial challenges that will be a burden on poor people,” said
Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change, a national civil rights
organization.