The U.S. Justice Department has concluded that the Ferguson, Missouri, police department routinely engages in racially biased practices, a law enforcement official familiar with the department's findings said on Tuesday. The investigation into the police department began in August after the shooting of unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson sparked national protests. Analysis of more than 35,000 pages of police records found racist comments from officers as well as statistics that showed African-Americans make up 93 percent of arrests while accounting for only 67 percent of the population in Ferguson, the official said. Scroll down for video . A Justice Department investigation has found patterns of racial bias in the Ferguson police department and at the municipal jail and court. The full report will be publicly released March 4 . African-Americans also made up most of incidents in which officers used force and all incidents where police dogs bit citizens, said the official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the investigation. Nationwide protests of police actions that resulted in deaths of African Americans in Ferguson, New York and Cleveland laid bare racial tensions and what President BarackObama called 'simmering distrust' between police and communities. The scathing report will show that 88 per cent of people against whom police used excessive force were African-Americans, and victims of the 14 dog bites recorded by the department all were black. Justice Department staff interviewed hundreds of average citizens as part of the six-month probe, concluding that a large portion of Ferguson's population mistrusts the local police force and considers it illegitimate . Report will show that 88 per cent of people against whom police used excessive force were African-American . Black offenders are also less likely to have their cases dismissed by a municipal judge and they are more likely to be taken into custody on outstanding warrants during traffic stops, compared to their white counterparts. Ferguson's black residents are also more likely than others to be charged with relatively minor offenses like 'manner of walking in roadway' or 'failure to comply. The findings are expected to be formally released as early as Wednesday, a Justice Department spokeswoman said. The department will use the findings to negotiate policy changes with Ferguson officials and enter a consent decree, or to sue the city to force change. Previous federal investigations into police departments have resulted in such changes as reporting arrest data to the Justice Department and installing federal monitors to oversee operations. Justice Department officials found from 2012 to 2014 that black motorists in Ferguson, Missouri, were more than twice as likely as whites to be searched in traffic stops, even though they were 26 per cent less likely to be found carrying contraband. African-Americans were 68 per cent less likely than others to have their cases dismissed by a municipal court judge. And from April to September of last year, 95 per cent of people kept at the city jail for more than two days were black, the six-month inquiry found. Of the cases in which the police department documented the use of force, 88 per cent involved blacks, and victims of the 14 dog bites recorded by the department all were black. Overall, African Americans make up 67 per cent of the population of Ferguson, about 10 miles north of downtown St. Louis. The report's findings vindicate critics who have cited a pattern of abuse in Ferguson. But they are unlikely to restore full trust in the Ferguson police by citizens who were angered when a grand jury decided not to indict Brown's killer, officer Darren Wilson. Wilson, who said he acted in self-defense, is also unlikely to face criminal charges in a separate Justice Department investigation. Mayor James Knowles said Ferguson was committed to making improvements. 'The city has always been committed to making sure we have the very best police department and any training and improvements or reforms we make to help improve service to the community, we are interested in,' Knowles said. Civil rights attorney Jerryl Christmas, who has represented people who have clashed with Ferguson police and city officials, said he was not surprised by the findings, and he hopes to see Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson fired. 'We already knew all this was going on. The problem is nobody is being prosecuted, nobody has been terminated,' Christmas said. Jackson did not respond to a request for comment. One email sent by a Ferguson police or municipal court official joked in 2008 that Obama would not stay in office long because, 'What black man holds a steady job for four years?' Another electronic missive, written in 2011, included an offensive joke: 'An African-American woman in New Orleans was admitted into the the hospital for a pregnancy termination. Two weeks later she received a check for $5,000. She phoned the hospital to ask who it was from. The hospital said, 'Crimestoppers.'' Ferguson Committeewoman Patricia Bynes said she was outraged by that and other racially tinged emails found in the investigation. Biased: The investigation found Ferguson officers  too often charged blacks with petty offenses . 'The fact that police officers and municipal court officials are using their public emails to tell racial jokes, that just reeks of arrogance and ignorance,' said Bynes. 'It's astounding. They think they are untouchable. The taxpayers have been paying for that racial bias.' The official said that in Ferguson's court system, African-Americans were less likely to have their cases dismissed by a municipal judge and made up 95 percent of people held longer than two days in the Ferguson jail. The Ferguson Municipal Court, which Attorney General Eric Holder has previously criticized for unfairly penalizing the city's poor, issued the majority of its warrants for minor violations such as parking, traffic and housing code violations. The physical tussle that led to Brown's death began after Wilson told him and a friend to move from the street to the sidewalk. A separate report to be issued soon is expected to clear Darren Wilson of federal civil rights charges. Ben Crump, the attorney for the Brown family, said that if the reports about the findings are true, they 'confirm what Michael Brown's family has believed all along, and that is that the tragic killing of an unarmed 18-year-old black teenager was part of a systemic pattern of inappropriate policing of African-American citizens in the Ferguson community.' A separate report to be issued soon is expected to clear Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson of federal civil rights charges in the Brown killing . The DOJ report also will accuse the St Louis suburb of putting profit over public safety in violation of the 14th Amendment's due process clause by collecting heavy fines from low-income residents. Since 2010, according to the federal agency, Ferguson courts have raked in more than $442,000 in fines for failure to appear, which amounted to a quarter of the court's annual revenue, reported the St Louis Post Dispatch. The onerous 'failure to appear' charge, which disproportionately affected those living close to and below the poverty line, was dropped by the city in September. Justice Department staff had reviewed 35,000 pages of police records and interviewed hundreds of city officials and average citizens as part of the six-month probe, concluding that a large portion of Ferguson's population mistrusts the local police force and considers it illegitimate. In anticipation of the report's release, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III said Monday that the outcome of the investigation was predetermined, according to USA Today. 'I'm not comfortable that Eric Holder announced that there would be wholesale changes before he started collecting any evidence,'' Knowles said. 'If the DOJ has some serious findings, I hope they will provide that to us.' John Gaskin III, a St. Louis community activist, praised the findings, saying 'Ferguson police have to see the light in how they deal with people of color. 'It's quite evident that change is coming down the pike. This is encouraging,' he said. 'It's so unfortunate that Michael Brown had to be killed. But in spite of that, I feel justice is coming.'
A message in a municipal email account said Obama wouldn't be president for very long because 'what black man holds a steady job for four years'
The DOJ report will allege sweeping patterns of discrimination targeting African-Americans within police and municipal court . Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to present report Wednesday . From April to September, 95 per cent of people kept at the city jail for more than two days were black . Report will show that 88 per cent of people against whom police used excessive force were African-Americans .