My nephew is a 29 year cop said this about Ferguson.

[MisterP]

12. it's actually very relevant that he can't tell if the confrontation was necessarily racial,

(though there's a black "perp," black neighborhood, black/white police relations); because the coverup absolutely was--from the moment the "hulking thug shattering his skull and needing 12 bullets to be 'put down'" complex was activated

racism doesn't just give impunity to overtly racist incidents, but also incompetent and sadist officers who are in it for bullying: it then encourages overt racism by telling the sadists they can go after Black people even more scot-free than usual since the coverup will be even easier if it goes pear-shaped

impunity is often actually all-or-nothing: if one violator gets prosecuted the floodgates are open and the police have to watch themselves much more because the "shield is down" and punishments are no longer an internal affair with just the PD and their pet prosecutors