Attorneys Trent Walker and Malik Shabazz, with Black Lawyers for Justice, spoke to reporters on Monday in response to the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights investigation. They said they are pleased with this first step that they said is necessary to hold the department accountable.

Feds will seek to determine if the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department engaged in a pattern of violence, illegal searches and arrests or other discriminatory practices.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a massive federal investigation into the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department.

The investigation comes after Rankin County sheriff's deputies and a Richland police officer, called the "Goon Squad," were sentenced to federal prison.

The attorney for two Black men whose racially motivated torture led to the conviction of six white former Mississippi law enforcement officers called for justice amid a new U.S. Department of Justice