FERGUSON TO HAVE ALL-WOMEN POLICE FORCE

The City of Ferguson signed a historic and revolutionary agreement with the Justice Department which establishes the nation’s first all-women police force

FERGUSON, MO - - (Wire Services) No more mano-a-mano police confrontations in Ferguson, Missouri. Out with the old, in with a completely new policing concept … charm hostile persons into complying with a cop during a stop or an arrest.

In the wake of the Michael Brown shooting and the riots that ensued, the Justice Department determined that the Ferguson Police Department discriminated against African-Americans in the way its officers enforced the law. The report accused cops of targeting blacks and citing or arresting then disproportionally for traffic and city ordinance violations, with the municipal judge fining them excessively. The City reluctantly agreed to oversight of its police by the Justice Department.

On Tuesday it was revealed that the City of Ferguson has signed a historic and revolutionary agreement with the Justice Department which establishes the nation’s first all-women police force.

Standing in front of the Ferguson police headquarters and flanked by city officials and the new police chief, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that from now on, the city will have an all-women police force that will reflect the racial diversity of Ferguson.

“We believe this revolutionary step will go a long way to heal the wounds between the police and the community,” said Lynch. “Since more than two-thirds of Ferguson’ residents are African-Americans, we will make sure that two-thirds of the officers will be black. The Justice Department will reimburse the city for the salaries of all officers for three years. After an extensive search, I have personally selected San Francisco police Captain Shahaadah Washington to organize and lead the new department.”

Lynch announced that as of Tuesday, the Ferguson police department has been disbanded and all current officers have been terminated with one-month’s severance pay. The St. Louis County Police Department will take over the policing of Ferguson until the new all-women department has been established.

A grim looking Mayor James Knowles said, “While I strongly disagree with the Justice Department’s determination that our officers have been discriminating against the African-American residents of our fine city, they left us little choice but to go along with their reorganization plan. I will now turn this over to the new police chief.

“Thank you Mr. Mayor, and thank you General Lynch for giving me the honor and opportunity to organize and lead this very revolutionary concept in law enforcement,” said Chief Shahaadah ‘Butch’ Washington. In order to get the best qualified women officers, we are offering officers from throughout the country a $10,000 signing bonus and a salary of $1,000 a month more than what they are earning now. I believe that within three months or less we will be able to fill all the openings in the new department. We can hire very good experienced women police officers because the Justice Department will pay for the signing bonuses and all salaries for the first three years.”

At that point Mayor Knowles stepped forward to interrupt Chief Washington. “Excuse me Chief … General Lynch, where is our city supposed to get the funds to pay those salaries when the Justice Department reimbursements end,” asked the mayor. “I want you to know that the fine City of Ferguson will then be bankrupted in a New York minute.”

When the Attorney General failed to respond to the mayor, Chief Washington continued. “As General Lynch pointed out, two-thirds of our officers will be African-Americans. Now, for those of you who do not believe women can do the job, I’ve got news for you. Women are doing the job and they are doing it better than men. Male officers tend to be aggressive and callous, while women officers tend to be charming and caring, thereby avoiding the ugly situations male officers too often find themselves in. I am confident that with an all-women police force representative of the diversity in Ferguson, trust of the police will be restored within the community.”

Shahaadah ‘Butch’ Washington, 44, is a 23-year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department. Her most recent assignment was as head of the internal affairs division. Last May, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr recommended that eight SFPD officers be fired for exchanging racist and homophobic text messages, one of which referred to Washington as “that fu—ing ni—er fag at IA.”

The Associated Press contacted Jeff Roorda, executive director and business manager of the St. Louis police union, to get his take on Loretta Lynch’s announcement. “They have no right to fire any or all those officers,” said an obviously angry Roorda. “They’ve done nothing wrong. And they can't have an all-women force either. That's discriminating against men. I will instruct our attorneys to seek an injunction in federal court tomorrow. Injunction or not, we are going to sue the city and the Justice Department to put these fine officers back on their jobs. And we’re going to do that all the way to the Supreme Court if that’s what it’s going to take. Hell, this is America, not Nazi Germany!”

Former FBI profiler Clint van Zandt told NBC Today co-host Savannah Guthrie that the concept of an all-women police force will work for a while, but eventually there will be the inevitable physical altercations. “And because girls can’t fight,” said van Zandt, “I predict that in Ferguson there will be more police shootings of unarmed black men.”