JACKSON, Miss. — Attorneys for the victims of a racist episode of police torture say new policies unveiled by a Mississippi sheriff’s department this week were introduced so the sheriff can escape liability in a civil lawsuit and forestall a new federal probe.
With criminal sentencing for six former law officers scheduled for January and a $400 million lawsuit against them and the sheriff pending, the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department unveiled a new policy manual Tuesday. The policies took effect on Nov. 20, the same day attorneys for Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker amended their June lawsuit.
The new complaint incorporates findings federal prosecutors unsealed from their criminal probe. In a news release, Sheriff Bryan Bailey outlined some of the changes his department has adopted, including hiring an internal affairs investigator, requiring officers to wear body cameras and adding an online submission page for civilian complaints. The policies were adopted due to the “inappropriate conduct” of deputies, Bailey said. Any body camera footage would only be released with the sheriff’s permission.
Five former Rankin County deputies and another officer from a nearby department admitted in August to abusing Jenkins and Parker in what Bailey called the worst case of police brutality he had ever seen. Hours after the officers pleaded guilty to a long list of charges in federal court, Bailey promised to reform the department.
In an interview and in written comments provided to The Associated Press on Thursday, Malik Shabazz, the attorney representing Jenkins and Parker, said Bailey is trying to avoid a broader federal probe.
“Why now, Sheriff Bailey? Is it because the Sheriff’s Department has been exposed as a bastion of depravity?” Shabazz said.
Jason Dare, an attorney representing the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Shabazz said the department’s hiring an outside investigator to oversee…
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