On August 9, 2014, Ferguson officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, in the Canfield Green apartment complex. His death , reigniting a national conversation about race and policing that continues to this day.
Closer to home, reforms have been slow to take hold, even those mandated by the federal Justice Department. The following list isn鈥檛 comprehensive, but, rather, a big-picture view of what has and hasn鈥檛 changed.
What's changed?
Federal consent decree
While a grand jury declined to charge Wilson in Brown鈥檚 death, the confrontation led to a U.S. Department of Justice into Ferguson鈥檚 police department and municipal court system. That led to the implementation of a consent decree, which requires the city make hundreds of changes to the way its police force works.
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Police leadership
Former Ferguson police chief Thomas Jackson was one of six city officials who resigned or were fired in March 2015 after the Department of Justice released its report.
A national search attracted 54 candidates and led Ferguson to hire Delrish Moss, the public information officer in Miami, as its new permanent chief.
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The QuikTrip
Protesters looted and burned the QuikTrip gas station at the corner of West Florissant Avenue and Northwinds Estates Drive on August 10, 2014. But a couple of weeks ago, the Ferguson Community Empowerment Center opened at the site, tied to the start of the National Urban League鈥檚 annual conference. Built by the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis and the Salvation Army, the center is latest example of new investment into the Ferguson area.
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What hasn't changed?
Political leadership
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III was four months into his second term when Brown鈥檚 death thrust him and his city into the brightest of spotlights.
Six city officials eventually or were fired in the aftermath, but Knowles hung on, even beating out a Ferguson councilwoman to win a third term in April by 15 points.
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The municipal courts
Despite making some of the court-ordered changes to the way it handles cases, Ferguson still faces a number of state and federal lawsuits over its municipal court鈥檚 practices, including allegations that it runs a debtor鈥檚 prison. The problem isn鈥檛 just in Ferguson, either.
鈥淭here have been some changes in Ferguson, but things aren鈥檛 fixed out there,鈥� according to Thomas Harvey, the executive director of ArchCity Defenders, which has filed many of those lawsuits.
State laws
Missouri state representatives and senators started the 2015 legislative session with plenty of ideas for policy reforms. But in the end, just one major piece of legislation passed that changed, among other things, how much money municipalities can fine people in traffic stops. The Missouri Supreme Court later threw out parts of that law.
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