--- description: Justice Department's $4.5 million program is a response to the crisis in Ferguson title: Justice Department to Address Police Bias in Response to Ferguson image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [justice](/tag/justice/) ## justice Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Feds Seek to Patch Up Relations Between Cops and Communities by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 18, 2014 7:46 PM CUT by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 18, 2014 7:46 PM CUT The Justice Department is [launching a program](http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-national-effort-build-trust-between-law-enforcement-and "undefined") 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/ "undefined"), 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":"2026-02-21T10:17:11.431Z","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. And the roots of anger are similar to those in the past.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/sBX7uelI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-14T15:14:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sBX7uelI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3399295/justice-department-police-community-ferguson/","duration":"PT1M41S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3399295/justice-department-police-community-ferguson/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```