Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday announced a review of racial bias within the nation’s law enforcement agencies, further expanding the federal response to last month’s fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teen in Missouri.
The three-year initiative will include five “major activities” in yet unidentified U.S. cities, undertaken by a consortium of criminal justice experts funded through a $4.75 million grant.
The effort, which will also involve testing policing strategies and training, is meant to develop a strategy to combat bias within police forces around the country.
{mosads}Holder said the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown highlighted the government’s obligation “to ensure fairness, to eliminate bias and to build community engagement.”
Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, allegedly shot Brown six times during a confrontation on Aug. 9, setting off weeks of violent protests and igniting a national debate on the use of force.
Holder has launched federal civil rights probes into the shooting itself, as well as a broader investigation of the predominantly white Ferguson Police Department, which serves a largely black community.
He declined Thursday to discuss the status of those investigations.
His decision to launch a national effort follows his personal visit to Ferguson in the shooting’s aftermath, during which he heard firsthand accounts of the community members’ views of their police force.
“We can’t allow these tensions to go unresolved,” he said.