DOJ Settlement Forces Reforms in Lexington, Mississippi Police Department After Civil Rights Violations
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday, October 16, 2026, that it has reached an out-of-court settlement agreement with the City of Lexington, Mississippi, to remedy civil rights violations by the Lexington Police Department. The Justice Department found that the department engages in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations, following up on its findings report of September 26, 2024.
According to the Justice Department's 2024 report, the Lexington Police Department routinely violated citizens' civil rights in the rural, poor, majority-Black city located about 65 miles north of Jackson, the state capital. The report found that police targeted Black people for arrests, made arrests for low-level offenses to generate money for the police department, and locked people up for extended periods of time if they could not afford to pay fines. The Department also found the department used excessive force and retaliated against critics. The investigation began in March 2023.
Under the settlement, the city and the police department must reform practices on fines and fees, bail and release criteria, and potential conflicts of interest. The department must also revise its policies on stops, searches, arrests, and use of force, and update how officers report and how supervisors review those actions.
The agreement bars Lexington police from continuing to jail people for unpaid fines without first assessing whether they can afford to pay them, a practice that violates the Fourteenth Amendment. The city must also dismiss existing warrants for unpaid fines and fees that violate the law and move to expunge the records of all unlawful fine-based convictions. The 2024 report found the city court had issued arrest warrants for more than 650 people, roughly half of the city's population, for unpaid fines.
The settlement also bars the city and police department from creating or using a quota or incentive system for stops, warnings, citations, arrests, or related revenue. Between 2022 and 2024, the Lexington Police Department made one arrest for every four people in town, more than 10 times the per-capita arrest rate for the state of Mississippi. The department will also require Justice Department-approved training on stops, searches, arrests, and use of force, along with documentation and review systems to ensure those actions are lawful.
"The Department of Justice supports local law enforcement," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "We are very pleased that the City of Lexington and the Lexington Police Department reached an agreement to enhance the lawful and essential activities of the police department and its officers as they continue to protect and serve the citizens of Lexington and its surrounding areas."
"Today's agreement reflects a shared commitment to meaningful and sustainable change," said U.S. Attorney J.E. Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi. "Through these reforms, we seek not only to address the concerns identified in our investigation, but also to strengthen public trust and promote practices that respect the rights and dignity of every person."
The agreement lasts for three years, but could be cut short or extended depending on whether the city and police department reach compliance. The Associated Press reported that city and police department officials did not immediately respond to its requests for comment.
Why it matters: when a police department funds itself through fines and low-level arrests, the burden falls hardest on the people least able to pay. In Lexington, a poor, majority-Black city, that system produced warrants against roughly half the town's population. This settlement does not just end those practices on paper — it requires dismissal of unlawful warrants, expungement of unlawful convictions, and years of monitored reform.