Monitor chosen to oversee Ferguson’s reforms

ST. LOUIS — A federal judge on Monday chose a monitor team to oversee reforms of Ferguson’s policing and court system.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry announced that Squire Patton Boggs, a law firm based in Cleveland, was picked from four finalists to make sure reforms are adequate in Ferguson. Officials in the St. Louis suburb say the cost of the monitoring will not exceed $1.25 million over five years, or $350,000 for any single year.

A consent decree between the city and the Department of Justice, approved by Perry in April, calls for diversity training for police, outfitting officers and jail workers with body cameras and other reforms.

Ferguson’s justice system came under scrutiny after the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, a black, unarmed 18-year-old.