A Mississippi town is attracting national attention after the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation just uncovered a historic level of police corruption. And to no one’s surprise, the victims are— you guessed it— mostly the city’s Black residents.
The city of Lexington, Miss. only holds about 1400 people, 76 percent of which are Black, according to the World Population Review. Despite being a small city and having one of the poorest economies in the state, the DOJ’s report found Lexington’s police department continues to disproportionately benefit from excessive fines, which is also known as “policing for profit.”
From 2021 to 2023, Lexington increased police spending from $662,925 to $965,130, according to the report. To collect this money, it’s reported the Lexington Police Department (LPD) has arrested about a fourth of the city’s population since 2021 and collected fines totaling more than $1.7 million. When you break it all down, that would mean every Lexington resident— man, woman, and child— owes $1,400 to the LPD.
But oh, it gets worse. According to the DOJ, “Through a combination of poor leadership, retaliation, and a complete lack of internal accountability, LPD has created a system where officers can relentlessly violate the law.”
The report listed examples of the LPD’s civil rights violations against its own citizens including sexual harassment against women, racial discrimination against Black residents, and even unjust sentencing for residents who fail to pay their fines.
One Lexington resident was reportedly chased by officers through a field and tased in his head before beginning to foam at the mouth. As the report mentions, this was not the only time the man encountered police, as he was jailed several times for simple offenses like stealing a cup of coffee. By the end of November 2023, the DOJ found the man owed more than $7,500 in fees to the LPD.
The DOJ’s year long investigation into the LPD began in November 2023. As you can imagine, what’s now being called the biggest police corruption case in Lexington, Miss. history isn’t the first time this small town is making big headlines. The city has been sued many times over the years for police brutality and other forms of misconduct, according to The Daily Beast.
Back in July 2022, Ex-police Chief Sam Dobbins was fired by the city’s board of alderman after leaked audio caught him bragging about shooting a “n*****” more than 100 times, according to the DOJ.
No actions have been taken in direct response to the DOJ’s findings which “are intended to help LPD, the City of Lexington, and the community understand the scope of the problem and the reforms that will be needed to address it.”
