[
Ferguson also operates a two-station fire department with a complement of 18 full-time firefighters as well as nine senior management officials.] The fire stations operate 24 hours a day.
Ferguson Police Department
On March 4, 2015, the Ferguson Police Department was criticized by the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
for civil rights violations. The Department of Justice argued that the Ferguson Police Department and the City of Ferguson relied on unconstitutional practices in order to balance the city's budget through racially motivated excessive fines and punishments.
On March 11, 2015, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson stated he was willing to resign, likely later that day (though no timeframe was confirmed) if he could get assurances that the Ferguson Police Department would be left in place and would not be dissolved; Fox News
The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
said he was not pushed out or fired. His resignation followed City Manager John Shaw who resigned March 10, and Municipal Judge Ronald Brockmeyer, who resigned March 9. Shaw had ultimate oversight over the Police Department and other city departments and was the most powerful civic official in Ferguson. He faced criticism for not doing enough to ameliorate the situation. The week before, three Ferguson Police Department employees were fired for offensive emails mentioned in the Justice Department report.
Ferguson Fire Department
The Ferguson Fire Department is a Career fire department and provides 24/7 fire and emergency medical services to the City of Ferguson. The Department hosts one frontline Rescue Pumpers and one Turntable Ladder across two stations, one in the Northeast of the City (Station No. 2) and one in the City Center (Station No. 1) neighboring the Police Department and Municipal Courts building. The current Station No. 1 was built in 2015, prior the Department's Station No. 1 was housed out of an extension of the City Hall on Church Street, during this time the Department's Ladder was too large to fit into the station bay and was usually kept outside in the rear parking lot, this extension is now home to FYI Backbay, a Youth Organization.
The Department also served the City of Kinloch when the Kinloch Fire Protection District's sole Pumper was unavailable up until 2021 when the District added a second Pumper into their fleet.
Michael Brown shooting
On August 9, 2014, an 18-year-old, Michael Brown, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson with the Ferguson Police Department after an encounter with the officer that led to an altercation and subsequent pursuit. The incident sparked riots and acts of vandalism in Ferguson as well as widespread calls for an investigation into the incident. On August 10, after a day of vigils, there were looting of businesses, arson, vandalism of vehicles, shots fired at firemen and violent clashes between rioters and police. On August 18, reservists from the Missouri National Guard
The Missouri National Guard (MONG), commonly known as the Missouri Guard, is a component of the Army National Guard and Missouri State Department of the National Guard. It is composed of Army National Guard, Army and Missouri Air National Guard, A ...
arrived in Ferguson at the request of the Governor of Missouri
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Jay Nixon
Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 55th governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
, who also ended midnight to 5:00 a.m. curfews that had been imposed. On November 24, a grand jury decided that it would not indict Wilson in the shooting death of Brown. Following the announcement of the grand jury's decision, there was more rioting.
Education
St. Louis Community College-Florissant Valley, which has about 8,000 students, is located in Ferguson.
Much of the community is within the Ferguson-Florissant School District (FFSD).[ ]
Text list
br> see also: - Compare this map against school attendance maps. Primary schools (grades K-2) serving sections of Ferguson include Central, Bermuda, Holman, and Walnut Grove. Intermediate schools (grade 3-5) serving sections of Ferguson include Lee-Hamilton, Griffith, and Berkeley. Zoned secondary schools with attendance boundaries that coincide with Ferguson include Johnson-Wabash 6th Grade Center, Ferguson Middle School, and McCluer High School. A portion of Ferguson is instead in the Riverview Gardens School District,[ and another is in the Hazelwood School District.][
The following FFSD public schools are located within the city of Ferguson:
* STEAM Academy at McCluer South-Berkeley (a ]magnet school
In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...
for grades 9-12), formerly McCluer South-Berkeley High School
* Ferguson Middle School (7-8)
* Johnson-Wabash 6th Grade Center (formerly Elementary School)
* Griffith Elementary School (3-5)
* Lee-Hamilton Elementary School (3-5)
* Central Elementary School (K-2)
Vogt Elementary School closed in 2019.
The following private schools are located within the city of Ferguson:
* Blessed Teresa of Calcutta School ( Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis)
* Our Lady of Guadalupe School (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis)
* Zion Lutheran School
Ferguson is also home to the Challenger Learning Center – St. Louis, which provides a space education program.
The Ferguson Municipal Public Library is one of several independent community libraries in St. Louis County and is a member of the Municipal Library Consortium of St. Louis County.
Notable people
This list may include persons born in the community, past residents, and current residents.
* General Ralph Eberhart, USAF, Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a Combined operations, combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air ...
during the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
* Michael McDonald, Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
-winning singer
* Henry Miller, also known as Sentoryu, mixed martial artist and former sumo
is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...
wrestler
* Delrish Moss, Miami law enforcement veteran sworn in on May 9, 2016, as the first permanent African-American Police Chief of Ferguson
* Susan Notorangelo, long-distance cyclist
* Enos Slaughter
Enos Bradsher Slaughter (April 27, 1916 – August 12, 2002), nicknamed "Country", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He played for 19 seasons on four major league teams from 1938 to 1942 and 1946 to 1959. He is noted prim ...
, Hall of Fame-winning St. Louis Cardinals baseball player
* Maury Travis, serial killer
* Harry Tuthill, cartoonist of the syndicated comic strip, '' The Bungle Family''
* Tyron Woodley, American mixed martial artist, former UFC welterweight champion
See also
References
External links
*
*
*
Podcast: Ferguson’s Untold Tragedy of School Segregation
��ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...
(December 22, 2014)
{{Authority control
Cities in St. Louis County, Missouri
Populated places established in 1855
Cities in Missouri
1855 establishments in Missouri