Residents of Lexington, Miss., were afraid at first to talk to Justice Dept. investigators about abusive policing. On Thursday night, they celebrated together.

A Justice Department report on the police department in Lexington, Mississippi, has found a stunning pattern of racially disparate policing and harassment.

The City of Lexington, Miss. and its police department deprive people of their constitutional rights, discriminate against Black people, engage in excessive force and unlawfully jail people, the Justice Department said.

Police in a majority Black Mississippi city discriminate against Black people, use excessive force and retaliate against its critics, the Justice Department said Thursday in a scathing report detailing findings of an investigation into civil rights abuses.

An investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) found that a police department in the majority-Black city of Lexington, Miss., discriminated against Black people and sexually harassed women, as well as engaged in a number of other violations related to free speech,