MS Police ‘Goon Squad’ Case Prompts Justice Department Investigation

After six Mississippi law enforcement officers known as “The Goon Squad” pleaded guilty to crimes related to the torture of two Black men, the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department. The investigation will focus on three main areas, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Kristen Clarke said as she announced the inquiry on Thursday. “First, whether the sheriff’s department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force. Second, whether the department engages in a pattern or practice of making unlawful stops, searches and arrests. And third, whether the department engages in racially discriminatory policing practices,” she said. The Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi are conducting the investigation together. If the investigation does uncover evidence of patterns or practices showing constitutional or statutory violations, the DOJ will issue a public report and then work with the county and sheriff’s department to attempt to reach an agreement on remedies, Clarke said. If the DOJ could not reach an agreement with Rankin County in that scenario, then the federal government could bring a civil lawsuit seeking to stop the violations, she added.

‘Widespread Department Failures’

U.S. Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke’s announcement comes six months after a judge sentenced the officers who branded themselves “The Goon Squad” to federal prison. “Our prosecution of the Goon Squad deputies does not mean that the inadequate practices that fostered it have ended,” Clarke said Thursday. “Since the Goon Squad’s sickening act came to light, we have received reports of other instances indicating that this conduct was far too common.” Reports of officers excessively deploying tasers, entering homes unlawfully, using racial slurs and using “dangerous, cruel tactics to assault people in their custody” led to the additional investigation, Clarke said. She added that long-standing allegations of police misconduct implies there are failures from the top-down in the department. “The evidence we received suggests that deputies failed to accurately report or document the force they use and that the department neither supervises deputies adequately nor holds them accountable,” she said.

The Goon Squad’s Crimes

While Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said Thursday that the civil investigation was not spurred by one specific event, she did acknowledge the crimes of the highly-publicized Goon Squad officers. “Of course, we cannot speak about Rankin County without speaking about the horrific violence that six former deputies inflicted on two Black men, Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker in January of 2023,” she said. The six former officers—former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies Hunter Elward, Christian Dedmon, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Daniel Opdyke and former Richland police officer Joshua Hartfield—pleaded guilty last August to state and federal charges related to a warrantless raid. The Justice Department said in the federal indictments that the officers broke into a home in Braxton, Miss., on Jan. 24, 2023, after a white neighbor complained to then-Rankin County Sheriff’s Office Chief Investigator McAlpin that two Black men were staying at the house with a white woman. Once inside, they handcuffed the men, ransacked the home and then beat and tortured them. The torture ended after Elward shot Jenkins in the face. As Jenkins lay bleeding on the floor, the group gathered to concoct a story in an attempt to cover up the assault. Both men survived their injuries. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Judge Tom Lee sentenced each of the men to decades in federal prison. After the sentences, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned their actions and pledged to hold officers accountable for abuses of power. During a press conference on March 18, Parker thanked the media for covering the case and his supporters but said he was struggling with the spotlight he’d received since sharing his story. “It’s been a trying year,” he said. “I relive this every day. Every time I turn on the TV, every time I get on my phone. When I’m on social media, I see it. Everybody’s telling my story,” he continued. “It’s been a rollercoaster, man. I’m still riding.” Since Jenkins and Parker came forward with the stories of what the officers did to them, others have also shared their encounters with the officers including Alan Schmidt, who said deputies physically and sexually assaulted him in 2022. “I pray for these officers’ souls to be healed of the evil within,” Schmidt said in a March 19 victim statement. “I pray for anyone who’s crossed paths with the goon squad.” McAlpin, who received a 27-year federal prison sentence for his role in the ordeal, is seeking a shorter sentence at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Following the DOJ’s announcement, Malik Shabazz and Trent Walker, attorneys for Jenkins and Parker, released a statement. “On behalf of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, and innumerable victims of Rankin County’s long and extremely violent legacy of departmental abuse under Sheriff Bryan Bailey, we applaud the DOJ Civil Rights Division today,” the statement said. “This is a first, critical step in cleaning up the Sheriff’s Department and holding Rankin County legally accountable for the years of constitutional violations against its citizenry.” “The torture and abuse of so many took place because, despite innumerable warnings, Rankin County and Sheriff Bailey belligerently refused to properly monitor and supervise this rogue and violent department. Rankin County’s liability to its citizenry is much bigger than the ‘Goon Squad’ as individuals. The next step for Rankin County is to make its victims whole, and to hopefully start a new chapter in justice.”

‘Looking Forward To Justice For All’

Following the arrests of the six officers, activists repeatedly called for Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey to resign or for Gov. Tate Reeves to remove Bailey from office. Bailey, who won reelection unopposed in 2023, has repeatedly refused calls to resign but pledged to support and cooperate with the DOJ’s civil investigation, Kristen Clarke said Thursday. Rankin County NAACP President Angela English was one of those activists calling for Bailey’s resignation. n a brief interview with the Mississippi Free Press on Sept. 19, she said she was happy to hear the news of the civil investigation. “I’m looking forward to them getting justice for all of the Rankin County citizens who have been abused. I’m looking forward to justice for all,” English said. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Todd Gee encouraged anyone with information about civil rights abuses in Rankin County to make a report to the Department of Justice by email at Community.Rankin@usdoj.gov or by phone call at 888-392-8557.