--- title: Justice Department to Address Police Bias in Response to Ferguson description: Justice Department's $4.5 million program is a response to the crisis in Ferguson canonical: https://time.com/3399295/justice-department-police-community-ferguson/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-18T19:46:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:38.812Z article:section: Politics og:title: Justice Department to Address Police Bias in Response to Ferguson og:description: Justice Department's $4.5 million program is a response to the crisis in Ferguson og:url: https://time.com/3399295/justice-department-police-community-ferguson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Justice Department to Address Police Bias in Response to Ferguson twitter:description: Justice Department's $4.5 million program is a response to the crisis in Ferguson twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Feds Seek to Patch Up Relations Between Cops and Communities ## Video: Missouri Unrest Resemble Pages Straight Out Of History [Watch (HLS stream): Missouri Unrest Resemble Pages Straight Out Of History](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sBX7uelI.m3u8) (1:41)  _Published 2014-08-14. Frustration in Ferguson County after the shooting of a black teen has led to unrest. And the roots of anger are similar to those in the past._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 18, 2014 7:46 PM UTC by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 18, 2014 7:46 PM UTC The Justice Department is [launching a program](http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-national-effort-build-trust-between-law-enforcement-and) to improve relations between communities and the law enforcement officers that police them, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday. The $4.5 million program is part of the department’s response to the [crisis in Ferguson](http://time.com/3182591/ferguson-michael-brown-shooting-recording/), which shed light on the deep-seated tensions between the police and urban and black communities. “Each of us has an essential obligation – and a unique opportunity – to ensure fairness, eliminate bias, and build community engagement,” said Attorney General Holder. Through the program, titled the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, law enforcement agencies will be provided training on “bias reduction and procedural fairness,” according to the Department of Justice. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3399295/justice-department-police-community-ferguson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3399295/justice-department-police-community-ferguson/"},"headline":"Feds Seek to Patch Up Relations Between Cops and Communities","datePublished":"2014-09-18T19:46:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:38.812Z","description":"Justice Department's $4.5 million program is a response to the crisis in Ferguson","url":"https://time.com/3399295/justice-department-police-community-ferguson/","keywords":["justice","Missouri","Ferguson topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3399295/justice-department-police-community-ferguson/","name":"Feds Seek to Patch Up Relations Between Cops and Communities"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Missouri Unrest Resemble Pages Straight Out Of History","description":"Frustration in Ferguson County after the shooting of a black teen has led to unrest. 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