Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson resigns after scathing DOJ report

FERGUSON, Mo., March 11 (UPI) -- Ferguson, Mo, Police Chief Thomas Jackson turned in his resignation Wednesday days after a scathing Justice Department report criticized the department for racial discrimination.

Jackson, 57, is the third top official in the city to resign since the DOJ report. His resignation is effective March 19.

Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff will become acting chief of the police department while the city launches a nationwide search for a new chief.

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles told reporters Jackson resigned because he is "an honorable man."

"After a lot of soul searching -- and it is very hard for him to leave and us to have him leave -- he felt that this was the best way forward."

City Manager John Shaw, 39, the city's most powerful official, quit his post late Tuesday. The DOJ report blamed him for overseeing the city's financially driven policies that led to widespread corruption.

He had held the post since 2007. In a page-long resignation letter, which the city called a "mutual separation agreement," he offered a staunch defense to the DOJ findings.

"While I certainly respect the work that the DOJ recently performed in their investigation and report on the city of Ferguson, I must state clearly that my office has never instructed the Police Department to target African-Americans, nor falsify charges to administer fines, nor heap abuses on the backs of the poor," he wrote. "Any inferences of that kind from the report are simply false."

The report said Shaw played a major role in the financially driven police and court system that was used to bolster the city's coffers. One email shows Shaw congratulating the police and courts for "great work" as he was told there was a long line of people waiting to pay fines.

As city manager, Shaw was responsible for employee hiring, supervising and discipline except for the city clerk, as well as overseeing all departments and preparing the city's budget, among other things.

Shaw's resignation is the second major upheaval in the city. On Monday, the Missouri Supreme Court took what it called "extraordinary action" to replace municipal Judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer, whom the DOJ accused of ticket-fixing and playing a major role in the city's fee penalty.

Jackson and Shaw were both given one year of severance pay.