Ferguson Mayor James Knowles announces the resignation of police Chief Thomas Jackson during a news conference on Wednesday in Ferguson, Mo. Jeff Roberson/AP hide caption
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles announces the resignation of police Chief Thomas Jackson during a news conference on Wednesday in Ferguson, Mo.
Saying that he's trying to save the community of Ferguson, Mo., Mayor James Knowles says that he is frustrated and concerned by the tone of Attorney General Eric Holder's remarks about his city and its police department both of which were harshly criticized in a recent Justice Department report.
Knowles also says that he sees no reason to step down, as some of his critics have demanded, stating that he still has residents' support.
The mayor spoke about Ferguson's response to the Justice report and the renewed calls for his resignation in an interview with All Things Considered co-host Melissa Block on Friday afternoon.
Of the shooting of two officers outside the Ferguson Police Department earlier this week, Knowles says, "As we saw the other night, violence like that is clearly going to set back both sides of this community."
He adds that tensions have risen in Ferguson, where "officers are concerned for their safety; residents are concerned for their own safety right now."
Saying that the city of Ferguson is continuing to go over the federal report that found "a pattern of unconstitutional policing," Knowles says the city's officials want to work with the federal government.
But he stops short of committing to having a federal monitor oversee what Holder called for: "immediate, wholesale and structural corrective action."
Knowles tells Melissa, "We also have to recognize that there are financial limitations to what the city can do and there's also what many residents in our community want to make sure that the city takes care of along the way."
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Ferguson Mayor Knowles Slams 'Hostile Language' From Eric Holder