Andre Anderson, interim police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, will step down December 2, according to a news release from the city.
Anderson signed a six-month contract in July to serve as interim chief. His job was to implement changes in the department, which entered the national spotlight after a police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in August 2014. A grand jury did not return an indictment against Officer Darren Wilson, who subsequently resigned.
Anderson had taken a leave of absence from the police department in Glendale, Arizona, where he was a commander. He’ll return to that job.
“My number one goal when I arrived in Ferguson was to regain the trust of residents and the Police Department,” Anderson is quoted as saying in the news release. “Many of our policing initiatives that have been implemented over the past few months will build a stronger relationship between the department and Ferguson residents.”
Anderson is the first African-American to lead the police force in the majority-black city of 21,000. He took the job four months after the U.S. Justice Department released a report saying it found a “pattern and practice” of discrimination against African-Americans by Ferguson police and municipal courts.
The Department of Justice report had found that Ferguson’s officers saw residents as “sources of revenue,” a practice that federal investigators said disproportionately targeted African-Americans.
The report found evidence of racist jokes sent by Ferguson police and court officials.
The police chief at the time, Thomas Jackson, resigned.
Ferguson now will start looking for a permanent chief, according to the press release.
City spokesman Jeff Small said Anderson was leaving a few weeks earlier than expected to tend to the needs of his family. Small said Anderson was leaving on excellent terms and had done a tremendous amount in his short time there.
