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 The president's comments came as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
said on Friday dismantling the city's police department was a
possibility.
"We are prepared to use all the power that we have... to ensure that
the situation changes there," Holder said. "That means everything
from working with them to coming up with an entirely new structure."
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles said three city workers who
demonstrated "egregious racial bias" are no longer employed by the
city, and said Ferguson officials are pursuing other reforms to try
to reach a settlement with the Justice Department.
City spokesman Jeff Small said police officers Rick Henke and
William Mudd resigned on Thursday and Ferguson's top court clerk,
Mary Ann Twitty, was fired after the release of the Justice
Department report on Wednesday.
The Justice Department said it found that the mostly white police
force routinely targeted African-Americans for arrests and
ticketing, in part to raise revenue for the city through fines and
fees. It found a pattern of officers using excessive force and
illegally arresting people without cause, deploying attack dogs and
tasers on unarmed people "unreasonably."
 “What we saw was that the Ferguson Police Department in conjunction
with the municipality saw traffic stops, arrests, tickets as a
revenue generator, as opposed to serving the community, and that it
systematically was biased against African-Americans in that city who
were stopped, harassed, mistreated, abused, called names, fined,”
Obama said at a town hall-style meeting in South Carolina.
The federal investigation started after a white Ferguson police
officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager on Aug. 9,
triggering nationwide protests and illuminating long-held complaints
in Ferguson and elsewhere about police treatment of minorities.
The Justice Department said it did not find grounds to prosecute
police officer Darren Wilson for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown,
but it did find racially disparate practices rampant through the
police force.
Obama said on Friday he fully supported the decision not to charge
Wilson.
"That was the decision that was made, and I have complete confidence
and stand fully behind the decision that was made by the Justice
Department on that issue," he said.
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The city and the Justice Department are attempting to negotiate
reforms to address the problems, and Knowles said the city has hired
a consultant to work with the police.
Knowles said city leaders plan to meet with Justice officials in two
weeks to review reform strategies, and try to agree on a settlement.
Relations between the city and the Justice Department have been
tense during the federal probe, and city officials have bristled at
some of the report's allegations.
"There are a lot of things in that report that are very troubling
and need to be addressed, but there are also things that are an
overreach," Knowles said.
"Our hope is those negotiations lead to mutual satisfaction. But if
we cannot come to terms ... we are not going to settle."
Knowles would not comment on whether Police Chief Tom Jackson would
be asked to step down. Several community and civil rights leaders,
as well as some lawmakers, have sought Jackson's ouster for months.
"We're looking at where the breakdown was and then we'll make
changes accordingly," Knowles said.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City and Julia Edwards in
Columbia, South Carolina; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in
Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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