NICK SCHIFRIN: Tomorrow marks
the fifth anniversary of the day
Michael Brown Jr. was shot and

killed by a police officer
in Ferguson, Missouri.

His death touched off months of
protests and raised questions
about the police's use of

force, race relations and
criminal justice in the U.S..

Political correspondent
Yamiche Alcindor traveled
back to Ferguson to
see what progress has

and hasn't been made.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: A typical
summer barbecue near what
some see as hallowed ground.

It was here five years ago
that officer Darren Wilson shot
and killed 18-year-old Michael

Brown.

FRAN GRIFFIN, Ferguson City
Council: To me, that just --
little patch just reminds me

of exactly where it happened at.

I can't drive over it.

I don't know what that is.

I don't know how to explain
it or why, but I can't.

I drive around it.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Fran Griffin
helped organize this event as
part of the Southeast Ferguson

Community Association.

The group was formed in the
wake of Brown's death to
provide community services.

Like many others, Griffin
was spurred to protest
after Brown was killed.

And, earlier this year, she
won a seat on Ferguson's City
Council, becoming the first

black woman to
represent her ward.

FRAN GRIFFIN: When Michael Brown
Jr. was killed, it changed the
lives of so many people, not

just here in Ferguson, but
throughout the entire world.

It changed my life.

I never, ever would have
thought that I would
have been a politician,
but I found something

that I could do that
would help my community.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Brown's
death thrust Ferguson,
a city of 22,000, into
the national spotlight.

Images of police in
armored vehicles firing
tear gas at protesters
and demonstrators setting

fire to businesses
fueled intense debate.

Now, as another anniversary
approaches, many are taking
stock of what has changed.

JAMES KNOWLES III, Mayor of
Ferguson, Missouri: We have a
lot of new staff members around

City Hall.

We have a lot of new
staff people especially
in the police department.

We have a lot of
new council members.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: James
Knowles is mayor of Ferguson.

He's one of the few remaining
city officials from 2014.

He remains the target of intense
criticism but insists the city
has made meaningful strides.

JAMES KNOWLES III: We
have a tremendous amount
of new officers in
our police department,

a much more diverse
police department than
we had in the past.

Our courts are much more
focused on working with people
to not get caught in that trap

of that kind of cycle of being
in the court system through
traffic tickets or housing

fines.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Of course,
many of those reforms were
mandated by a Justice Department

consent decree.

In 2015, the DOJ
concluded law enforcement
practices in Ferguson
were -- quote -- "shaped

by the city's focus on
revenue, rather than
public safety needs."

It also determined that
African-Americans were arrested
at disproportionate rates, and

some without probable cause.

Statewide, black drivers are
still nearly twice as likely
as others to be stopped.

In Ferguson, the disparity in
traffic stops of black drivers
has also increased by 5 percent

since 2013.

Yet Ferguson has
reduced its ticketing.

In 2014, the city issued
nearly 12,000 tickets.

Most were for minor
municipal code violations.

In 2017, that number
was under 2,000.

Now revenue has fallen from
nearly $2 million in 2014 to
just under $400,000 in 2017.

The municipal court
has also vacated nearly
10,000 arrest warrants.

There have also been
broader changes.

WESLEY BELL, Saint Louis County
Prosecutor: We know this issue
isn't limited to the borders

of Ferguson.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Last year,
Wesley Bell was elected Saint
Louis County prosecutor.

The former Ferguson
city councilman defeated
longtime Republican Bob
McCulloch, who declined

to indict Officer Wilson.

WESLEY BELL: It was more of
the typical incarcerate your
way out of every problem.

Someone is struggling to pay
child support, put him on
probation or lock them up.

Someone has a drug issue,
put him on probation
or lock them up.

And that exacerbates
the problem.

Any of you who work the streets
know you're seeing the same
people over and over who just

need treatment.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Instead, he is
prioritizing pre-trial diversion
programs, cash bail reform,

and decriminalizing
low-level drug charges.

WESLEY BELL: We want to
make sure that people
who are incarcerated
need to be incarcerated,

and those that do not
need to be shouldn't see
the inside of a jail.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Since
Bell has been in office,
Saint Louis County's jail
population has dropped

by 20 percent.

There are still serious
questions over just how much
change has come to Ferguson.

Storefronts like these
remain shuttered and
development is slow.

And there are still stark racial
divisions and deep tensions
between the community and

police.

Councilwoman Griffin worries
the Third Ward, which has the
highest percentage of black

residents and the lowest
income levels, is not
getting enough resources.

FRAN GRIFFIN: In terms of just
the little small mom-and-pop
stores, like, those aren't

existing.

You have got a few
beauty supply houses.

You have got a few beauty
salons and nail shops.

But in terms of actually
providing resources to people
where they can get -- in walking

distance where they can go
and shop, I would say no.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Last
week, a Missouri nonprofit
announced plans for a
new development project.

It will include a
health care center and
possibly a grocery store.

Still, some in the city
remain deeply worried
about interactions with
the police and racial

profiling.

MARCUS HICKS, Ferguson Resident:
If anything, it feels the same.

I don't feel like
nothing different.

I don't feel like it's
enhanced or anything like that.

I don't even feel like I can
call the police to save myself.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Marcus Hicks
and Travis Bowl, both 22,
live in Ferguson and saw the

protests here in 2014.

TRAVIS BOWL, Ferguson Resident:
Like, being a black male,
it's just -- like, I feel like

it's -- it's just like
it's never going to change.

Like, they're going to forever
think we're on some type of
B.S. or some type of gangbanger

stuff and stuff like that.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Yet some
wrongly believe black residents
deserve extra scrutiny.

JUDY MCCARTY, Ferguson Resident:
If you watch how some of these
people drive, you know what

- - you know what
color they are.

I'm not prejudiced, but we can
tell by the way they drive.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Judy McCarty
has lived in Ferguson since
she was 2 and lives just blocks

from where Brown was killed.

And while her husband
William says some court
reforms were needed:

WILLIAM MCCARTY, Ferguson
Resident: When you come in to
pay a ticket, and you have got

four other outstanding warrants,
and they put you in jail,
you can't pay your fine if

you're in jail.

You're not going to be working.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Still, they
worry things have gone too far.

JUDY MCCARTY: Let's not go the
opposite way, where the -- the
way there seemed to be going

now, and there's no punishment
for abusing the law.

WILLIAM MCCARTY: Right.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: At the same
time, Ferguson's independent
monitor testified the city needs

to do more to actually
implement policy changes,
including new police training.

But Mayor Knowles says the
costs are too high, which
has rankled many activists.

JAMES KNOWLES III: There is no
police department in Missouri,
very few in this country, that

do all of the things that are
required by our consent decree.

We have to go
through more hoops.

We have to endure more
training, more scrutiny.

FRAN GRIFFIN: To them, the
mind-set is, it's not fair that
we're being penalized because

of what happened here, because
everybody else was doing it.

That's the wrong
mind-set to have.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Griffin says
it's that kind of sentiment
that makes her concerned the

city may revert to
its old practices.

But she's also confident in the
momentum of the last five years.

FRAN GRIFFIN: Whenever I pass
up the space, like, it's a
constant reminder of the -- what

my responsibilities are.

It's a constant reminder
of the pain that an
entire community felt.

And it's just a constant that
we have got to keep fighting.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: For the
"PBS NewsHour," I'm Yamiche
Alcindor in Ferguson, Missouri.