There is little debate that the police are necessary to uphold laws and help maintain societal order, but some law enforcement agencies abuse both their authority and the citizenry they are ostensibly supposed to protect and serve.

That appears to be the case for the small police department in the rural Mississippi community of Lexington, which the federal Department of Justice has accused of engaging in physically and financially abusive and racially discriminatory practices against residents, according to the Associated Press.

Former President Donald Trump, who is a strong supporter of "law and order" and has the endorsement of multiple national police unions, would likely be stunned by and strongly disapprove of the actions of a local police department that has gone rogue and violated the public trust.

Alleged rampant racial discrimination and abuse

According to a DOJ press release on Thursday, an investigation was launched nearly a year ago into allegations of egregious and repeated civil rights abuses by the Lexington Police Department against the majority-black 1,200 residents of the rural community in Mississippi.

That investigation determined that members of the LPD routinely employed excessive force while arresting people for minor alleged offenses, would stop and search individuals without probable cause, and would even detain people without charges for so-called "investigative holds" or for prior unpaid fines.

The department was further alleged to disproportionately discriminate against black residents and to retaliate against individuals who complained or criticized or tried to hold them accountable for their actions.

Excessive fines and high bail amounts were also typically imposed on jailed individuals for petty offenses and previously unpaid fines that collectively totaled around $1.7 million for the tiny and impoverished community in one of the nation's poorest counties.

The DOJ also accused the LPD of exploiting to its benefit a financial conflict of interest, given that a significant portion of its budget was derived from the fines and fees charged against the citizenry.

Modern-day debtor's prison

Reason magazine reported that, according to the top federal prosecutor in the state, the Lexington PD was running the equivalent of a "Dickensian Debtor's Prison" by locking up poor residents for unpaid fines and then compounding the problem with additional fines and fees that kept them in debt.

"Lexington has turned the jail into the kinds of debtors' prisons Charles Dickens described in his novels written in the 1800s," U.S. Attorney Todd Gee said during a press conference. "Only this is happening in Mississippi in 2024."

"Police have the authority to enforce the law, not to act as debt collectors for the City, extracting payments from the poor with threats of jail," Gee said in a statement for the DOJ's press release. "No matter how large or small, every police department has an obligation to follow the Constitution."

A "policing for profit scheme"

Local ABC affiliate WAPT reported that Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the DOJ's investigation of the Lexington PD uncovered what she described as a "crude policing for profit scheme" by way of its excessive fines that helped pad the department's budget and created an "unconstitutional conflict of financial interest."

"Lexington is a small, rural community but its police department has had a heavy hand in people’s lives, wreaking havoc through use of excessive force, racially discriminatory policing, retaliation, and more," Clarke said in the DOJ release. "In every corner of our country, police officers must respect people’s constitutional rights and treat people with dignity."

"After an extensive review, we found that police officers in Lexington routinely make illegal arrests, use brutal and unnecessary force, and punish people for their poverty -- including by jailing people who cannot afford to pay fines or money bail," she added. "For too long, the Lexington Police Department has been playing by its own rules and operating with impunity -- it’s time for this to end. Our findings report furthers the Justice Department’s commitment to ensuring fairness and the rule of law."