away with a cell phone, more than one cell phone and a laptop. luckily no one was hurt. police showed up shortly after. the reporter seemed to be in high spirits, later joking it's all in a day's work. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. turning you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now, forced out. the ferguson police chief steps down but the mayor is still hanging on. with other officials leaving one by one, is this the end of a city administration blasted by the u.s. justice department for racial bias? bin laden exclusive. cnn obtains never before seen photos of the terror leader taken long before 9/11. as al qaeda documents come to light, what do they tell us about the terror group's future plans? fatal crash. we have new details on the helicopter that went down carrying seven u.s. marines and four soldiers. why was it flying in heavy fog? and north korea kidnappings. a shocking u.n. report says the communist regime has abducted

thousands of people over the years. will the dictator kim jong-un come clean? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." our breaking news more shock waves in ferguson missouri. police chief thomas jackson has resigned. we are awaiting a news conference in ferguson. we plan to bring it to you live. the move comes just a day after the city manager stepped down and follows the departure of two police officers and the city's top court clerk. the mayor is hanging on for now but after last week's blistering justice department report on racial bias and abusive practices, the city government is going through a major upheaval right now. i'll speak live with benjamin crump, the attorney for the family of the slain teenager michael brown. our correspondents analysts and guests they're also standing by. we begin with two reports. cnn's sara sidner has been all over this story. let's go to our national correspondent, suzanne malveaux

here in washington with the very latest. >> ferguson's infamous police chief tom jackson is stepping down cnn has learned. he is the latest high ranking city official to fall in the wake of the justice department's scathing report that found a pattern and practice of discrimination against african-americans by the ferguson police. we saw calls for jackson's ouster erupt again last night after ferguson city manager john shaw resigned and some ferguson residents saying they just need to clean house. the justice department report found the ferguson police department showed a culture of discriminatory behavior from excessive force targeting african-americans to racist e-mails, including one depicting president obama as a chimpanzee. jackson would be the third city official named in the justice department's report to resign. the justice department found the ferguson police and courts unfairly targeted and

overticketed black residents for minor offenses. one african-american woman who was initially fined $151 for parking illegally ended up spending six days in jail and facing fines over $1,000 because she could not pay. on monday ferguson's municipal court judge also steps down -- stepped down and one person who insists, however, that he's not going anywhere is ferguson's mayor, james knowles, who said that somebody has to be here to take care of business. i intend to stay. as for the rest of the police department there is an active debate over whether it should be dissolved and have st. louis county police take it over. there is precedent for that but in talking with those in the ferguson community, there is still a very long way to go when it comes to healing. >> the healing process will presume presumably hopefully continue. let's go to cnn's sara sidner who has been covering the story from the very beginning. what else are you hearing from your sources there inside

ferguson? i know you are very well plugged in. >> reporter: yeah initially we heard this was effective immediately, that his resignation, that he would leave today. now we are seeing the actual paperwork. we have been waiting for that so that we can make sure the details are all correct. now we are hearing march 19th that that is going to be his effective leaving date and that lieutenant colonel al eichoff will take over as interim chief. he is already at the department. he will now become the new chief of police as they go for a nationwide search for a brand new chief who will take over full-time. we know that now the -- who will be the former police chief on march 19th jackson will receive a severance pay for a year and health insurance for a year. that's the deal that has been worked out. a lot of people might be wondering well why did he get to name some of his terms. the law in missouri has gotten much stricter on how cities can

get rid of police chiefs and that is because in 2013, a new law was put in place to say that you can't just have your politicians deciding who gets to run your departments, your police departments. there has to be very specific things that you can prove in order to remove them. so as i was told by my source this had to be something that came from him, that he could name some of the things that he wanted as he left the city. that is probably why you are seeing this the way you are seeing it as he's allowed to resign because they have to be able to prove some very specific things including whether or not he committed a felony in order to actually fire him. the city council would have to do that. so he has resigned we know that. we also want to talk to you about what he is saying because we haven't heard anything from him even after the world wanted to know what he had to say about the doj report. i tried to get information out of him when i was there last week. here's what he said. don't you think you should have known some of the things that came out, the racist e-mails, the numbers? were you just trying to bilk

people out of money instead of protecting them? telling your department to just go ticket them? >> thank you. >> reporter: we have been talking for days and days and days. all we want is an answer from you. what do you think of this doj report and what are you going to do about it? just any idea what it is you are going to do yourself about this as chief of the department? >> i'm going to analyze the report and take action where necessary. >> reporter: are you planning on resigning? >> i will let you know. >> reporter: are you thinking about it? >> reporter: well he has let us know through other channels. the city now saying he is going to resign. i asked the mayor about it the next day. is your police chief going to resign is your city manager going to reresign. the city manager is the guy with the most power in that department. the police chief is hired by the manager and the mayor is part-time. so the city manager holds the pursestrings and as you have seen, these are the people named in the report. the mayor is not named in the

report but the police chief, the mayor and the judge that recently resigned are. there you have it. those who have been named in the doj report are gone. >> we got a letter supposedly written from the soon-to-be ex-police chief. this is published in the "st. louis post dispatch." it is with profound sadness i'm announcing i'm stepping down from my position as chief of police for the city of ferguson missouri. my resignation will be effective march 19th 2015 to provide for an orderly transition of command, it has been an honor and privilege to serve this great city and to serve with all of you. i will continue to assist the city in any way i can in my capacity as a private citizen. that letter just published on the st. louis post dispatch website. it's interesting, sara in the official statement from the city of ferguson they said they have agreed to what they call a mutual separation which involves the resignation of the city police chief. this was a mutual decision the

statement says by the police chief and city administration. chief jackson as you point out will receive a severance payment and health insurance for one year. they are calling it a mutual decision and they are saying they have agreed to a mutual separation. are they just playing with words here? >> reporter: i don't think so. because what i'm hearing from my sources is that again, because of the law that is in place, that makes it very clear what the city can and cannot fire a police chief for, there had to be a mutual agreement. he also had to agree to go at the same time. so i don't think they are playing with words. we also know that this community and i have just gotten some information from some of those who have been protesting they are calling for more resignations. that should be no surprise to anyone. they want to see the entire department gone. they have been very vocal about that. the same people you hear yelling there who have been out on the streets for many many days and

weeks and months have asked for it to dissolve. the police chief wanted to prevent that from happening and this is a move on his part i think to try and make sure the department stays in place. this is a movement from the city to try to change things and try to look at the doj report and try to start taking some actions. will this be enough? we will have to wait and see. >> they are not releasing details of the severance payment that he's getting. it says he will receive a severance payment and health insurance for one year. we don't know if that one year's salary is that his severance payment? we don't know what the severance payment is, is that right? >> reporter: that's correct. that's correct. >> they don't say anything about a pension, long-term pension or anything like that. these are good questions i presume reporters will be asking at that live news conference. we will have live coverage of it coming up here in "the situation room" as well. you want to make one more point? >> reporter: i think that's fair to say. a lot of people will want to know what are the terms of the

deal because we also know that the city manager left as well and everyone wants to know all of the sort of details because the money that is paid to the chief and city manager comes from tax money, right, comes from tax dollars. people want to know where that's being spent. i'm sure those questions will be asked. >> stand by. we are standing by for a live news conference. we will have coverage of that once it begins. in the meantime let's get reaction from benjamin crump, attorney for the family of the slain ferguson teenager michael brown. sir, thanks very much for joining us. i don't know if you have had a chance to speak with his family michael brown's family but what's the reaction you are willing to share with our viewers? >> yes, wolf well michael brown's mother and father are relieved that actions are being taken to address the very disturbing findings in the doj report. they have always maintained that the tragic death of their son in broad daylight was approximately

caused by the pattern and practice that the department of justice found, discrimination and its force against african-american citizens in ferguson. so they believe what the doj found in that report had a lot to do with their son being killed. >> so there have been several resignations now or decisions to go ahead willingly, maybe not necessarily so willingly. is it enough or do you want to see more resignations, specifically mayor knowles? >> well the family hasn't spoke to that matter but they wanted the shooter to be held accountable more than anything for taking their son. you know this family has said they want this to be prevented in the future and they believe action is what is needed to try to prevent this from happening in the future. because if you look at that report you saw that it was a

culture that discriminated and targeted african-americans. these e-mails, these outrageous e-mails, you know it was very troubling when you have this cesspool of racism and you think it doesn't affect how officers act. so the family is trying like everybody else to say let's try to prevent this from happening again. let's try to make this better so our children won't be killed by the people who are supposed to protect and serve them. >> i just want to be precise. the city manager is now resigned the police chief has resigned, two police officers, they are out. the court clerk is out. do you want mayor knowles in or out? >> well like i said the family wants actions to be taken to try to prevent this from happening. they saw that the people who sent those e-mails and people who were doing this excessive

citations were being held accountable. they want anybody who calls this situation to happen to be held accountable. that's all they are willing to say at this time. >> there's no formal position on mayor knowles and his future. as you well know you know this better than anyone darren wilson the police officer who shot michael brown, he has clearly been not charged by the grand jury. the justice department said they didn't have enough evidence to go against him on civil rights violations. but you are still planning your lawsuit, your civil lawsuit against him, right? >> yes. the family is bringing a civil lawsuit against the city and the police officer for wrongful death of their teenaged son, michael brown jr. and we must remember you know when you think about it it was his immediate supervisor who sent the e-mail about crime,

paying a black woman $3,000 to have an abortion to prevent crime. we want to know who got that e-mail. we understand it was forwarded. we want to know did the killer of michael brown forward that e-mail. you want to know these answers because we couldn't tell with this high standard of explicit bias what was the shooter thinking when he shot at michael brown jr. so all these things become important and to try to say we want to prevent this from happening because we certainly think implicit bias existed to be able to show what was the culture at the ferguson police department. >> i want you to stand by because we are getting new information. we are also awaiting a news conference in ferguson missouri expected here from authorities. you see live pictures coming in from ferguson. we'll have live coverage of that. more coming up.

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if ferguson police chief, thomas jackson, has reached an agreement with the city of ferguson to step down. we are awaiting a news conference in ferguson. we will have live coverage. there you see the cameras are already in place. we will get the very latest on what they are saying. in the meantime let's go back to benjamin crump, attorney for the family of the slain ferguson teenager michael brown. i assume you give the justice department report a lot of credit for what is going on in ferguson right now, all these forced resignations.

>> i think most of the citizens have been saying all along that the police department are profiling us they don't treat us right. that's what we've heard from day one. i think the justice department pointing out specific instances of the alleged discrimination was certainly helpful into bringing this matter to light. >> i know you have handled a lot of these kinds of cases, the tamir rice case in cleveland, of course trayvon martin, your firm has dealt with that. give us a little bit bigger picture right now, the fallout from ferguson and what's going on around the country, the impact that it has had. >> you know that's the thing that we are all focusing in on because it was always about the larger implications. we see that it's almost an epidemic going on now in america where people of color, unarmed people of color, are being

killed all over the united states and nobody's being held accountable. it's almost as if these police officers' actions are being sanitized not only by the local authorities but also by the federal government. so it is important to see something like this try to lead to an example, a preventive measure to deter such conduct in the future saying all life matters, black life matters, brown life matters, all life matters, and we want our trained police officers to be able to respect everybody, whether you live in a white community or black community because that was another big thing about how police officers treated ferguson. so it's one of those things hopefully this will prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future. >> if people learn some lessons. in the release, in the press statement the city of ferguson put out, they said the city of ferguson will begin a nationwide search for a new chief of

police. as you know the city of ferguson is about 60% or so african-american. the police force itself maybe 50 or 60 police officers maybe two or three african-american. here's the question. is it important that in this nationwide search they try to find an african-american who will be the next police chief in ferguson? >> well you want to find the best candidate to be police chief. but diversity is very important. it's very important that the police officers understand the communities, at least want to engage with members of the community they are going to be protecting and serving. there's an old saying in the black community that everybody else is protected and served but we are policed. we don't want to be policed. we want to be protected and served as any american citizen. no better no worse. it's always been about equal justice. >> benjamin crump, attorney for the michael brown family, thanks for joining us. >> thank you, wolf.

>> once again, we are continuing to await the news conference by officials in ferguson missouri. they will be talking about this afternoon's breaking news the resignation of the city's embattled police chief. live coverage of that coming up. also coming up, a cnn exclusive. pictures of osama bin laden we have never seen before just as newly revealed documents show how bin laden and al qaeda's leaders were plotting a major change in strategy. the real question that needs to be asked is "what is it that we can do that is impactful?" what the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. it used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, that's what i'd like to do.

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conference by ferguson city officials. we'll have live coverage of that once they begin. in the meantime let's get to some other important news, including a cnn exclusive. a first ever look at images of osama bin laden taken long before the 9/11 attacks put him in the world spotlight and the cross-hairs of the u.s. military. our justice correspondent pamela brown is here in "the situation room" working this story for us. tell us what you're learning. >> well these rare photographs were quietly released in a high profile new york terrorism trial of a convicted bin laden lieutenant. they were found in his home in london and we spoke exclusively to one of the men who took these pictures of osama bin laden nearly 20 years ago. these remarkable pictures have never been seen until now, obtained by cnn. they showed a relaxed, smiling osama bin laden at his hideout in the mountains of afghanistan, five years before he would launch the biggest terror attack in american history. >> when i met him, when i

interviewed him, he wasn't -- yes, he hated america, he hated actually the american policies in the middle east but it never occurred to me he would be planning for 11th of september attacks, for example. >> reporter: the first journalist to ever interview osama bin laden took many of these exclusive pictures. he's seen here with a high ranking al qaeda jihadist who was there during the interview. after a harrowing seven-hour journey through the tora bora mountains, he arrived at bin laden's secret retreat under heavy security. >> i remember there was a military maneuver half an hour after i arrived and when i asked them why is that they said because we were scared the americans could follow you and they could actually bomb us. >> reporter: cnn has obtained these photos at the same time the world is learning more about the al qaeda mastermind from letters and documents found in his compound by s.e.a.l. team six the night he was killed.

those documents released as evidence in a federal terror trial paint the picture of a man increasingly fearful of drone strikes and concerned about his crumbling organization. but ashwan says he saw a very different young man when he met him in the '90s. >> he was very very humble and he was like everybody else around him despite being a very wealthy man. his clothes were very modest his food was actually very very primitive food. it was just some cheese. >> reporter: despite his modesty, bin laden liked to show off his prized possessions like the rifle he was carrying in this picture. >> he showed me his kalashnikov, his rifle. he was proud of this rifle because he captured it from a soviet general he killed. >> reporter: this picture captures bin laden giving a tour of his land he was so proud of. that would later become his safe haven right after 9/11. >> we walked for an hour and a

half if the mountains of tora bora. he was very very active. >> reporter: he says he even spent two sleepless nights in a cave with the terror leader. >> very very old and very stiff mattress so i really couldn't sleep. i discovered that i was sleeping with an arsenal of weapons, hand grenades rifles so i couldn't sleep. i thought maybe any mistake i would be blown up completely. >> reporter: five years later after those pictures were taken, a few weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, bin laden returned to his mountainous retreat there and then later moved as we know to pakistan where he was eventually killed by s.e.a.l. team six. >> pamela thank you very much. joining us our cnn national security analyst, peter bergen who also interviewed bin laden. peter of course is a top authority on al qaeda, along with our intelligence and security analyst bob baer former cia operative. looking at those pictures peter, probably brings back some memories to you of a much

younger bin laden. you interviewed him, what in 19 -- >> '97. >> give us your thoughts when we look at these new pictures we have never seen before. >> the thing about these pictures this is bin laden very comfortable. he was quite concerned when we met with him, he was concerned he was meeting an american team this was an arab journalist who seemed somewhat sympathetic to the cause. of course at that time bin laden hadn't done anything and certainly the journalist was sympathetic to what has been done since but these pictures show him more relaxed. there are other pictures of his entourage. also for the first time there are pictures of the actual house that he was living in. they are unusual photos that kind of give you a sense of what he was like in that time frame. >> a little bit more relaxed, presumably after 9/11 things got a little more tense for him. bob, what jumps out at you when you take a look at these pictures? >> well you know the man, he slowly developed into a

fantacist who thought he could take the united states on thought he could change history. early on he tried to talk the saudis out of allowing american troops in saudi arabia thought he could influence the royal family. he had a clearly inflated view of his spiritual role for al qaeda and what he could do to the united states. of course what he found out after 9/11 was the law of unintended consequences and he ended up killing a lot of muslims. the man, you know at this point he's starting to become paranoid about the united states being after him but i remember in khartoum in the mid '90s when the saudis offered him up we didn't even want him. we didn't know who he was. a man that was looking for a role in history, he got one, but probably not the one he wanted. >> peter, why are we seeing these photos now? >> a guy who actually was sort of a facilitator of the

interview was tried in manhattan and these photos were entered into evidence. that's why the british police found them in his house in 1998. they haven't been shown to anybody until this recent trial. >> so they are trying to show the connection between this suspect who is on trial and bin laden. that's why they are releasing the pictures? >> basically, yeah because they were found in his house. they show clear links with bin laden, part of the evidence he was sort of the circle around him. >> these photos came to light with additional documents gathered as part of the raid on bin laden's compound in pakistan. the major take-away of those documents was how successful the u.s. drone operation was in crippling al qaeda. explain how effective that drone operation was. >> well i mean you know frankly, at the beginning i was very skeptical it would ever work. these campaigns aren't usually won from the air. what's clear from this evidence i love seeing this stuff. peter is absolutely right.

they did work. the cia and the pentagon disrupted this organization and effectively destroyed it and it was thanks to telephone intercepts and to running algorithms through the metadata and the pakistanis as well they don't like to admit their involvement. these organizations can be beat. once you get better and better at targeting you can destroy them from the air. this is what we should hope for the islamic state, we can do the same. >> you agree? >> we can hope so. the difference al qaeda was a relatively small organization, a few hundred people at the most. isis is 30,000 fighters potentially. they are certainly being atritted, 1,000 a month are being killed but they are also recruiting about 1,000 fighters a month so it's a little bit different. there are ways to impose costs on isis which are happening. >> guys thanks very very much. once again, we are standing by for the news conference on the

resignation of the ferguson missouri police chief. we'll have live coverage as soon as it begins. also coming up why is the white house accusing republican senators of trying to undermine the president? we are standing by for a live update also on the search for that u.s. military helicopter that went down off the florida panhandle with 11 u.s. military personnel on board. why do i cook? because i make the best chicken noodle soup. because i make the best chicken noodle soup. because i make the best chicken noodle soup. for every way you make chicken noodle soup, make it delicious with swanson®.

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this hour's breaking news,

the embattled police chief in ferguson missouri is stepping down. we are awaiting a news conference by ferguson city officials. you see a live picture from ferguson. we will go there live once it begins. here in washington a new wave of fury from the obama administration over that letter to iran's leaders signed by 47 republican senators. the white house says the move was meant to undercut president obama. some republicans are apparently having second thoughts about the letter. others though they are sticking to their guns. let's turn to our white house correspondent, michelle kosinski for the very latest. >> reporter: the anger over this over senate republicans writing this open letter to iran during nuclear negotiations hit a new level today. we have senators confronting the secretary of state directly. the white house firing back even a mini twitter war. >> this indignation and breast beating over this letter is absolute nonsense. to say that we should not be

communicating is nonsense. i saw in the letter to iran but you know what the message i was sending was to you. the message was to president obama that we want you to obey the law. we want you to understand the separation of powers. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry facing senators today on that open letter signed by 47 republicans cautioning iran about making a nuclear deal with this administration. he fired his own message right back. >> my reaction to the letter was utter disbelief. to write them and suggest that they are going to get a constitutional lesson which by the way was absolutely incorrect is quite stunning. >> mr. secretary, i know this is a well-written speech -- >> not a speech. this is not a speech. this is a statement about the impact of this irresponsible letter. >> reporter: its impact still going. hillary clinton tweeting that it undermines america's leadership.

no one considering running for commander in chief should be signing on. bobby jindal shot back no one who allows iran to become a nuclear power should consider running. some republicans, even john mccain, who signed the letter conceded maybe it wasn't the best idea. some aides told the daily beast it was a quote, cheeky attempt to show that congress should play a bigger role but that the white house has no sense of humor about it. the white house definitely isn't smiling. >> our allies understand that when they make commitments with the executive branch of the united states of america, that they are making commitments that the country is going to live up to and to have that undermined as part of a partisan tactic by republicans is damaging. now you might have an excuse for some of our allies or some of our partners like russia and china to say well the iranians were a little unreasonable but we saw 47 republican senators in the united states of america stand up and throw sand in the gears of the diplomatic process.

maybe the united states isn't after all acting in as good a faith as they should. >> reporter: one of the fundamental disputes at the heart of this is should this potential deal with iran be considered a treaty. some in congress say it is important enough it rises to that level, it is a treaty and as such should demand a vote from congress. but the way the white house is treating it as an executive agreement. it doesn't have the binding of law. we asked them about that today and they said you know what it would be an impactful, forceful commitment that is consistent with other similar agreements in the past in their words, it is appropriate. >> michelle thanks very much. good report. searchers off the florida panhandle have spent the day looking for victims of a u.s. military helicopter crash. 11 men, seven marines, four soldiers they were aboard a black hawk that went down during a training accident. let's go to cnn's victor blackwell over at the louisiana army national guard base in hammond, louisiana. what's the latest over there?

>> reporter: i just learned that the search and rescue operation is being shut down for the night. i just had a conversation with a spokesman at eglin air force base near where this black hawk went down on tuesday night, and they say that the fog is rolling in again, it's thickening and it's just not safe for the boats and for the helicopters to continue this search through the night. they expect they will be able to resume it tomorrow not at daybreak but once the fog burns off, their forecast expects that will be sometime mid-morning. as you know it will take some time to determine exactly what the cause of this accident was, but there are concerns that the fog from last night, the weather, is a major contributor. we have also learned that fort rucker in alabama, the accident investigators there, will take time to review the damage the wreckage and the records of this chopper to determine exactly the cause of the crash. we have also learned from that eglin spokesperson that more

human remains have washed ashore throughout the day and into this afternoon. we have learned about the people who are, by some u.s. defense officials, presumed dead that they were part of a group that actually was working during katrina to pluck people off of roofs and they were deployed to afghanistan and iraq back in 2004 and 2005 and 2008 and '09. >> our deepest condolences to the families of those seven marines, four army soldiers. they are grieving right now. very very sad story. victor thanks for the update. up next new pressure on kim jong-un to stop a horrifying practice that's led to thousands of kidnappings. right at the top of the hour we'll have more on the breaking news we have been following. ferguson missouri's embattled police chief finally agreeing to step down. we are awaiting a news conference. city officials in ferguson are getting ready to talk to the news media.

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continuing to cover breaking news the resignation of the ferguson missouri police chief. we're awaiting a news conference. live coverage once it begins. a story that's sure to anger kim jong-un's government. they have been kidnapping people for years. there are many victims. brian todd is here in "the situation room." he has details of the shocking report. what have you learned? >> reporter: tonight, a top u.n. investigator is pushing for more pressure to be placed on his regime to come clean about the

hundreds of thousands of people they have kidnapped over several decades and to repatriate people they are said to be holding against their will. kim jong-un celebrates international women's day. he directs commanding officers to give the cosmetics and food items he brought to the wives. he it cops as his regime is under pressure to own up to its human rights record. a new u.n. report says more than 200,000 people have been kidnapped by the north korean government since 1950. a state-run system of abduction. most were taken foreign policy south korea and japan. the report says "many were never heard from again but still are still in north korea." this is a man who was south korea's most famous actress. she described how kim jong-un's father orchestrated her abduction. >> translator: they picked me up by force and they took me into a

boat. >> reporter: she was lured to hong kong in 1978 after she was grabbed, thrown into a boat and sent to north korea, human rights observers kim jong-un's father was there to personally greet her. >> a few months later her ex-husband who was a filmmaker was lured to hong kong and abducted. they were kept in north korea for eight years. they made seven films. >> reporter: they made a thriller, a kung fu adventure, even a godzilla ripoff. all under the close supervision of kim jong-un's father. >> there was one specific case in which for the climax of a film scene he needed a model train to blow up. he put in a request for it to kim who sent him a real train packed with explosives. >> reporter: a south korean

fisherman who testified for the u.n. described his abduction in 1970. >> translator: ten armed people north koreans were shooting at us. they were yelling at us, come down or we will kill you. >> reporter: why were so many abducted? >> some were taken and forced to teach foreign languages and cultures to north korean overseas intelligence agents north korean spies as part of the training process. >> reporter: a north korean representative at the u.n. hung up on us when we called to get their response to the u.n. report on their abductions. the north koreans have most often denied kidnapping foreign nationals. in 2002 once they did admit the regime abducted a few japanese citizens. >> interesting story. thanks for that report. coming up back to the breaking news. the ferguson, missouri police chief stepping down. the latest official to pay the price after a blistering u.s.

justice department report. live to ferguson once that news conference begins.

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happening now, breaking news. ferguson fallout. the mayor hanging on as the police chief becomes the latest to step down in the wake of the michael brown shooting and a damning justice department report. we are awaiting a live news conference from ferguson. ferguson without many of its top leaders after a wave of resignations. how does the community move forward? sooner apology. a student expelled from the university of oklahoma says he

is sorry. new information is revealed about that racist chant that was all caught on camera. how long has it been part of the culture? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." we are following breaking news. the resignation of the ferguson missouri police chief. stepping down after being singled out in a justice department report on the city's police tactics. it was prompted by the death of michael brown, an unarmed black teenager shot by the white police officer, darren wilson. we are standing by for a news conference. we will have live coverage. we are covering the angles of the breaking news with the correspondents and guests including the head of the naacp. we have two reports. sarahyre

let's get the latest from suzanne malveaux. >> reporter: we're learning is jackson's resignation is effective march 19th a week from today. there will be a nationwide search to find his replacement. many in the african-american community have been calling for his ousting. they believe that this is the first step in trying to rebuild trust with the police department. ferguson's police chief thomas jackson is stepping down. this in the wake of the justice department's scathing report that found a pattern in practice of discrimination against african-americans by the ferguson police. state senator maria nadel says it's the only way the community can begin to heal. >> he no longer has that ability to guide people in the right direction, because he has never been a true leader. >> reporter: calls for his ousting erupted after the city

manager resigned. >> this is on your watch. this is on you and jackson's watch. >> reporter: the justice department report found the ferguson police department showed a culture of discriminatory behavior from excessive force targeting african-americans to racist e-mails, including one depicting president obama as a chimpanzee. jackson would be the third city official nachlwefficial named to resign. >> we are prepared to use all the power we have all the pow they're we have to ensure that the situation changes there. >> reporter: the justice department found the ferguson police and courts unfairly targeted and over tickets black residents for minor offenses. one woman who was fined $151 for are parking illegally ended up spending six days in jail and fines over $1,000 because she could not pay.

on monday the municipal court judge also stepped down. one person who insists he is not going anywhere is ferguson's mayor. >> somebody has to be here to take care of business. i intend to stay. >> reporter: as for the police department there is an active debate over whether or not it should be dissolved and have st. louis county police take it over. there's actually precedent for that. there's going to be a lot of scrutiny over who becomes the next police chief, whether he is african-american. >> 70% of the community is african-american. maybe only two or three of the police officers african-american out of 50 or 60. we will see what they do in the search for a new police chief. thanks very much. let's bring in sarah who has been doing reporting on what's been going on in ferguson. i know you are getting more information. what are you hearing from your sources? >> reporter: i was just speaking to some of those who go out and protest and who have been very involved in the protest

movement. they are planning to show up at the press conference that's going to be happening very shortly. but what they really want is they want more resignations. they are happy about this. i can tell you that. from all of the responses i have got from those who have been on the ground there who have been protestifying against the department. but they want to see more resignations. when i asked, you know is this going to help start to heal things start to move things forward? and the answer some of them said yes, we have been waiting for this for a while. but some of them said we have to wait and see who replaces him and how this department acts in the future. and so we will all have to wait and see how this plays out. i do want to mention this wolf. if you look at the doj report, they found no justification to charge officer darren wilson with civil rights violations. the grand jury said it was a justified shooting. they did not indict him.

this may be this bubbling up of anger may be from what else the doj found, which is that there was a huge amount of frustration between the african-american community and the police because of the ticketing practices. and we have heard that over and over and over again long before michael brown had ever gotten into the situation. so we will have to wait and see if those practices change. by the way, they're not the only department that has been accused of doing this. but they are the department that has, in essence, been caught by the doj. >> we will have live coverage. so don't go too far away. let's get more. joining us the president and ceo of the naacp. thanks very much for joining us. what's your reaction to the breaking news today, the ferguson police chief's resignation resignation? >> well i view this as a validation. certainly not a victory. the fact is that the department of justice uncovered an unholy

trinity between the ferguson police department and the court and city hall. the fact you have these resignations indicates that these public officials are reacting to the department of justice report the way roaches react to light. that is to say, they are running for cover. that's a good thing. because that department needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up. we need to create a couple tur of accountability those recommendations -- not recommendations. those recommendations and proposals put forward in the department of justice report have to be implemented. you need leadership for that. and that we did not have in that department. >> as you know the police chief is stepping down two police officers forced out earlier, the court clerk forced out, the city manager forced out. is that enough or do you want more? >> the mayor needs to resign. the fact of the matter is the

city manager worked pretty closely with the municipal court judge to impose these fines and in collaboration with the police department all under his watch. the fact of the matter is we have a municipality that was acting in a rogue fashion. the justice department report demonstrates pretty clearly that this unholy trinity violated the constitution federal statutes undoubtedly state laws and preyed upon the citizens through fines that were discriminatory. we have a police department that engaged in excessive use of force in a racial way. we have police dogs being used on african-americans and most notably children. all under his watch. so the fact of the matter is i'm not sure how you can have all these other officials resigning in the wake of this report and the mayor retain leadership and

credibility. it's not plausible. >> it's interesting that the police officer who shot and killed michael brown, darren wilson he was not charged by that grand jury. the federal government justice department said they didn't have evidence to go after him in some sort of civil rights case. there's going to be a wrongful death civil lawsuit that the family of michael brown will file. but i guess sort of interesting that the police officer himself for at least now seems to have been vindicated. >> well from the point of the family and the community, this is painfully ironic. i do note here that the attorney general noted the difficulty of meeting a civil rights -- this civil rights standard in terms of demonstrating intent. so i would not say that darren wilson comes out of this looking like an angel. it's difficult to prosecute someone under that statute.

and here we know this to be true darren wilson operated in the midst of a rogue police department. that engaged in all matter of unconstitutional discriminatory conduct. the behavior he was accused of, namely using excessive force against an unarmed teenager the report makes clear that that was a pattern and practice in the police department that he served in. and so i wouldn't say that this report exonerates darren wilson. >> mr. brooks, look at this. i don't know if you can see the video. we have live pictures coming in from madison, wisconsin. this is a separate story that we have been following here at cnn. we're seeing protesters taking to the streets after another officer shooting another young biracial man shot and killed

over the weekend. the protests growing. live pictures from our affiliate in madison, wisconsin. i know you have taken a closer look at what's going on there. give us your analysis. >> wolf if this were another -- if this was simply one instance of a another young african-american man -- if this was -- all across the country we see this again and again. in ferguson in staten island in cleveland. there is what feels like for this generation a pandemic of policeman misconduct. we know that one out of every four african-american men reports being mistreated at the happeneds s hands of police. black men are more likely to lose their lives at the hands of the police. there's a challenge here.

more to the point, we know that this kind of policing is not effective, it alienates communities. community-oriented policing makes communities safer, prosecutions easier. so the fact that you have all of these people out on the street protesting yet another young man being killed only indicates the degree to which we have to respond to this crisis with a sense of urgency. congress needs to pass the interracial profiling act. two, we have got to have a national standard with respect to the excessive use of force. i remember wolf only a few weeks ago we passed the death in custody act which allows us for the first time to answer the basic question how many people lose their lives at the hands of the police in an unlawful manner? so we are making some progress. but we're not making progress

nearly fast enough or have we gone far enough for many of the people that we see in the streets all across the country. the fact the of the matter is we're going to see more people standing up for community policing and government that really reflects our highest constitutional and moral values. so what we're seeing in wisconsin is significant. and we're going to see more of it unless we respond to the crisis. >> yeah. it's interesting that a lot of this is taking place now just after last weekend, the commemoration of what happened 50 years ago in selma, alabama. i know you were there. we're going to take a quick break. more coming on. we're following breaking news out of madison, wisconsin, ferguson missouri. standing by for the news conference city officials ready to speak on the resignation of the police chief there in ferguson. much more right after this.

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we are following breaking news. we're awaiting a live news conference from ferguson missouri where the police chief, thomas jackson, has resigned. he is the latest in a series of ferg sop officials to step down in the wake of the michael brown shooting and the justice department's report that found a pattern and practice of discrimination against african-americans in ferguson. we're back with the president and ceo of the naacp. what larger impact mr. brooks might all of the ferguson fallout have on the future of

young black teens across the country? step back and give us a little bigger picture. >> well i believe that there's a -- one positive lesson here. namely that your actions as a citizen do make a difference because if we think about the fact that we had a young man lose -- who lost his life in ferguson, missouri. we had a group of young people i would call them practitioners of democracy who took their cell phones their mobile devices and took images of michael brown lying on the street and broadcast them around the world. they had an impact on the white, an impact on the department of justice. so i think that's a positive lesson. beyond that i believe that what's happening in ferguson in madison, in staten island in cleveland and communities across the country is that not only african-american teenagers and young people but people of all colors ethnicities, hues and

heritage are coming together to say that we believe that police officers should be protectors should be officers of the peace and we can, in fact have that. so the sense of urgency that we see at the grass-roots level in communities all across the country is being felt not only among young african-americans but by people of various backgrounds. so i believe that they are fuelling a fundamental change and shift in policing in this country. and so we're moving beyond theory to practice beyond slogans about community policing to a serious commitment to community policing. that i think we can give credit to a group of young -- extraordinary young people who only a few months ago -- i will know -- were being maligned in terms of being looters and that kind of thing. i think the fact that you have a department of justice and the attorney general who essentially

validating what they have been saying for months and what the naacp has been saying for years on end. >> cornell william brooks the president and ceo of the naacp. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. more breaking news coming into "the situation room" right now. senior administration officials telling cnn the white house is aware of a alleged incident involving secret service agents. another one. "the washington post" first reported two top agent are now under investigation for driving a government car into white house security barricades last week after drinking at a late night party. let's bring in the reporter who broke the story. tell us what happened here carol. >> wolf what happens here is that guys all got together and women presumably for a retirement party of a beloved see yet service official an agent, downtown washington bar.

late that night, wednesday, march 4, returned to the white house complex allegedly to get their cars. as you probably know, a lot of secret service agents particularly senior ones involved here have a government car that they drive back and forth to work. according to our sources, they were leaving the complex, and the officers for the secret service who monitor the safety of the white house complex and ultimately the president and his family felt that these two individuals may have been intoxicated intoxicated, were driving erratically, actioning er inging inging erratically. the secret service told us today they are confirming that there is an allegation or a series of allegations involving misconduct by these two individuals, very senior people and that they are investigating it and that director clancy has asked the department of homeland security to take over the investigation,

in part because the guys are so high ranking. >> the two agents allegedly involved, i read the lead of your story posted at "the washington post," one of them is a top member of the president's protective detail. is that right? >> that's correct. he is described as the deputy special agent in charge. he ranks basically as the number two. there are two people in that category. the number two for the president's detail. >> as we know this new director of the secret service, he used to be on the president's froekivefroek ive protective detail. that's the elite of the elite, right? so this obviously is a huge embarrassment. >> well it is the first test for director clancy. as you remember wolf because you reported on this a lot yourself an outside panel -- when things were going haywire for the secret service late last year all scuffty tysecurity problems,

they said you need somebody with fresh eyes somebody not tied to this group and isn't wed to the old guard. well the president chose to go with somebody he really trusted. he rejected that advice. he chose director clancy as his new leader for this agency. clancy who has had 27 years in this agency and is friends with a lot of the people we're talking about tonight and friends with connelly, has served with them we are seeing now the first test for the new director. and he seems to be taking it very seriously by basically saying my agency can't investigate this independently. i have to have an inspector general outside of these walls look into what happened here. >> it follows that hugely embarrassing potentially dangerous development when there was a fence jumper. we're showing our viewers, reminding them on the north lawn of the white house, someone

jumped over the fence from pennsylvania avenue not only got on the lawn the north lawn but actually ran inside the north end and got to the east room of the white house. it was shocking when you think about it. this latest incident that you are reporting on carol, let me be precise. i'm pretty familiar with what the secret service does over there. the secret service agents who allegedly drove into this barrier, allegedly being intoxicated intoxicated, the uniformed secret service officers there, lower ranking, they wanted a sobriety test to be done but higher ranking officials in the secret service said no sobriety test just sent them home? is that what you understand happened? >> the investigation is by no means anywhere near finished. it is barely started. we don't know exactly what happened. but our sources have said to us that the uniform officers

believed these two individuals very likely to be -- have been drinking. that's a violation of being in a government car for the secret service. and that they were told to stand down when they were talking about a test and talking about potentially stopping them and writing up a report. and we just don't know until the investigation is complete what really happened who ordered what who told who to stand down. we just know that this is what the secret service is confirming, that they have gotten these allegations and they're taking it seriously. >> carol, thanks very much for joining us. we will stay on top of this story as well. we are standing by for a live news conference from ferguson missouri. the police chief there resigned. we will go there live as soon as it begins.

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we are standing by for a news conference. there you see live pictures from ferguson missouri. we are following the breaking news the resignation of the police chief there, thomas jackson. the latest city official to step down following a blistering justice department report on the city's treatment of african-americans. as we await the start of the news conference let's bring in our panel. joining us the president and ceo of the naacp cornell william brooks along with john gaskin

and antonio french don lemon and tom fuentes. don lemon, i understand you got a statement from the police chief? >> reporter: i have. it's a remark. have i been texting with him all day and throughout the week to figure out what he's going to do. he talked to me today about -- at least texted about what was happening. he was cagey but towards the end he said i'm resigning. we know he did go on to resign. i said what do you have to say? do you have a quote? and he said don, i'm encouraged by the final paragraph conclusion of the doj report. he says we agree that ferguson can do the tough work to see this through and emerge the best small town it can be. he goes how is that? i said that's perfect for a statement. if you would like to say more, will take it. earlier when i was on cnn, i said going forward, this police chief stepping down how he does

it can set the precedent for what is to come whether this is a positive move or whether it's met by resistance. i'm encouraged to say he will help out and he is stepping down in a positive manner. >> what do you think, antonio french? what's your reaction to what's going on over there in neighboring ferguson? >> well i think the resignation of the chief and the city manager, frankly, were long overdue. in the case of the chief, many of us have been calling for his resignation for many months. in light of what we saw and what we read in the doj report it was a matter of time. in fact the resignation of the chief and the city manager are just the first of many steps that must be taken in order for ferguson to turn itself around and for the community to begin healing. >> are you calling for the resignation of the mayor? >> i think it would be helpful. but in the system of government that ferguson has, the mayor is

really just kind of a figurehead position. it's really the city manager that runs city government. so many of those things that were outlined in the doj report fall under the responsibility of city manager and police chief. that being said there are statements that the chief -- i'm sorry, the mayor made over the last few months especially in august that i think kind of made "the situation room"the situation worse. >> the city manager now stepping down. he said that he respected the work of the department of justice, the work that they did but that his office in his words -- this is a quote. never instructed the police department to target african-americans. any interferences from the report are simply false. you have taken a close look. what's the reaction to all of

this? >> wolf as the old saying goes silence gives consent. to continue to allow that to happen for it to happen on his watch, as antonio mentioned, the city manager has a critical role when it comes to the management of revenue, personally those that are up under his leadership. so to allow that to go on under his leadership is unacceptable. and he did the right thing to step down. i think they are moving in the right direction doing that. and i think the mayor should step down. you know earlier this year or back in august he said that he didn't think that the city of ferguson had a racial problem. well we obviously saw that it does. to be the mayor of a city that small and not realize that there's racial tension and so many issues to not be wise enough to admit that and to deal with those issues in the way

that he should is unacceptable. i thought that the police chief was going to resign last week along with the mayor with the press conference that we saw right here on your show last week. so this is not really a surprise but it's long overdue. >> the mayor says he is not planning on resigning. the police chief has resigned. the lieutenant colonel will assume the duties as acting chief of police while the city of ferguson undertakes what is described as a nationwide search for a new chief of police. tom fuentes, you are a former fbi assistant director. is it time to do in ferguson what was done in neighboring jennings missouri dissolve the police force there? >> i think that people that ask for that should be careful what they ask for. that means there will be no more local control over policing of that town. if it goes to st. louis county they will have to contact the chief of st. louis county sheriff's office to determine what kind of policing.

the efforts are going to be very difficult. what i would hope is that the community and the police department work together and the unfortunate thing is that this mayor was elected in 2011 with 11.7% of the eligible voters of ferguson coming out to vote. what i would hope is that the people work to take control of their own city, to get the people in there who will represent them and be what they want in terms of a government in terms of a police department. giving the police department away to the sheriff's office i don't think is the right answer. >> we're going to take a quick break. stand by for the start of the news conference in ferguson missouri. much more right after this.

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i guarantee it. welcome to the nascar xfinity series. we are standing by for a news conference from ferguson missouri on breaking news we have been following. there you see the live pictures. the resignation of the police chief, the latest to step down following a blistering u.s. justice department report on the treatment by the city of african-americans. we're also looking at live pictures -- there you see it -- from madison, wisconsin, over the shooting of a police shooting of a 19-year-old unarmed teenager tony robinson. we are following this as well. we have our analysts news makers standing by. we expect to hear from the mayor

of ferguson. it looks like they are getting ready to bring in the mayor. cornell william brooks is with us he is the president and ceo of the naacp. what would you like to hear the mayor say? >> i would like to hear the mayor say that he recognizes and appreciates the degree of harm that has been imposed on the citizens of ferguson. that he takes responsibility for what the justice department uncovered in terms of unconstitutional unlawful conduct in terms of federal and undoubtedly state law. and that he is committed to reform. one of the best ways to demonstrate that is to step down because there is new reason to believe, given what we have seen over the course of undoubtedly years that he is in the position to lead reform effort. >> our legal analyst, former

federal prosecutor she is anxious to hear what the mayor has to say. sunny, what do you want him to say? >> i think it would be appropriate for the mayor to resign. i predicted his resignation as well as the resignation of the police chief. you know the town of ferguson really at this point needs leadership. and i think it needs fresh leadership especially because we did hear mayor say there was no racial divide in ferguson that ferguson had transitioned from being a predominantly white middle class neighborhood to being a predominantly african-american middle class neighborhood without problems. he actually even said that ferguson was sort of the example of how do that well. so given the fact that he seemed to either have been in total -- i don't know disbelief that anything was going on or perhaps ignoring it. i think certainly he is not the appropriate person to be a

leader. i also want to mention, wolf that we have talked a lot about the department of justice report and the 26 recommendations that the department of justice made. i think we should also make it clear that, you know recommendations is a very nice way of the department of justice saying if you do not agree to make these changes in addition to other changes, we will sue you. and so i think we will see more resignations we will see an -- a wholesale reform of the police department and the city. quite frankly, i don't know that the police department can survive that kind of reform. because that kind of reform costs money. and we know that the city cannot get that money by you know ticketing and policing for profit the citizens. and so i think what we will really see is perhaps a merging of police departments. i don't believe that we will see

a ferguson stand alone police department. >> we're standing by for start of the news conference. the mayor, we expect him to make a statement. the last time he did it he didn't answer reporters' questions. we will see if he does this time. the other picture is from madison, wisconsin, where there's a demonstration under way right now protesting the shooting death by a police officer of 19-year-old tony robinson. we're watching that story as well. jeffrey toobin our senior legal analyst, is joining us. as far as i can tell correct me if i'm wrong, there's been a lot of accusations of wrongdoing of racist behavior all e-mails, bad judgment if you will in ferguson. but no one has been accused of any crime. a lot of resignations so far. the police chief resigning today. no one has been accused of a crime, right? >> i guess when you ask the question that way, it reminds me of george w. bush's famous line the soft bigotry of low expectation expectations. the fact that police officers

and government officials have not yet been accused of a crime, that's a pretty low bar for them to hop over to do their jobs. i think the record of this police department is appalling, is a discussgrace. these people should have been gone a long time ago. i disagree with tom in that i think this department should be abolished. i don't think it's a problem for the community. you know the whole st. louis area has way too many police departments that exist, mostly to support themselves and not the community. so the idea that this police department and these officials deserve any credit at all for leaving before the justice department kicks them out is i think, misguided. >> john you are a young community activist. you live in that part of the country. what are your friends, your associates our young community

activists, what do they want to see happen? >> well they want to see some real sincere reforms. they want to see people that police the community sincerely and not for profit. they want to see police officers that care about their well-being and don't necessarily care about keeping their jobs because of quotas for pulling people over. for far too long as jeffrey toobin mentioned, you have 80 something municipalityies here in st. louis county and they are obviously not in existence to police communities and make sure that they are safe. they are there because they are self-serving. to help keep revenue up for those municipalities so they can continue to stay in business. so many young people are calling on these reforms so that there is better policing within our communities. the activists that you see out with the protests and the civil disobedience are not

anti-police. they are merely for good policing and policing that is safe and policing that is fair. no one is asking that african-americans receive special treatment. we're simply asking that these street-side executions that we saw in madison stop here in this country. >> don lemon, you spent a lot of time in ferguson covering the stories in the aftermath of the shooting death of michael brown by darren wilson. these resignations that are taking place right now, is it sort of like at least some sort of justice that the brown family might feel? we wouldn't know about the racist behavior that's documenteddocument ed in that report if it had not been for that incident. >> yeah. you know wolf that's a tough one. having lost a loved one. i don't know what would make up for that. i think not for the brown family because if we look at what the justice department found, what the grand jury

found, they found -- they exxon exonerated darren wilson. they found the hands up don't shoot, evidence shows that didn't happen. so in that case for brown family i don't think that this offers any sort of consolation. for community, for the broader community i think that it does because it's what they have been saying all along. there's a disconnect between -- with the police department and members of the community. members of the community are only interactions with police officers negatively ones when they are coming in as the overseers, more than -- when the majority of the community is african-american and only three officers are african-american. i do want -- i'm not a legal person. but i want to comment on your question that you asked jeffrey about no one violated the law. according to the justice department report the entire police department violated at least the constitution by stopping people illegally. i think it says that they

violated the -- the ferguson police officers routinely violate the fourth amendment in stopping people without reasonable suspicion, arresting them without probable cause and using unreasonable force against them. that seems like some breaking of the law to me at least. >> no one has been charged yet, at least yet with a crime. that was the point i was >> no one has been charged with a crime. that's the point i was trying to make. i think jeffrey is right. that's a pretty low bar for what we know. we're awaiting the mayor, he's supposed to walk in shortly. he's going to be making a statement. i spoke earlier with benjamin crump. he's the attorney for michael brown's family. he said the family was relieved about the justice department report. they weren't yet ready to talk about any resignation of the mayor there. they are obviously relieved by the resignation of the police

chief. they want to wait and see. that's understandable isn't it? >> yeah i think so. at best the doj report provides some hope of transformations to come. the removing of these few individuals, so far i think we have five individual who is have been removed in ferguson is a small step but really we want to see transformations of the systems that have been allowed to exist for too long. that's what the doj report outlines. the systems in place, not just individual actions. i hope the mayor acknowledges there are systems in place in ferguson and beyond that prey on african-americans and prey or poor people. this isn't just the lone action offense a few individuals. >> you're the president ceo of the naacp. you don't believe it's an isolated incident. there's other examples of this kind of stuff happening all over

the country. is that your sense? >> absolutely. the report makes clear that there were 16 points of contact between the municipal courts the police department and the citizens. at every point you found these racial disparities. wild racial disparities. when you look at police departments all across the country, the challenge the municipal find, the excessive use of force, this is not uncommon. the fact is we have models of policing that protect neither the community nor police officers nor assist in the prosecution of crime. this is a fundamental program, a national program and not isolated to ferguson. if you talk to anyone in city government i should say in state government who is honest will say it's not isolated to ferguson. >> hold on for a moment.

i want to explain what we're seeing now. this is at the city municipal building. some protesters have showed up. they are taking pictures of the protesters. there's the delay in the arrival of the mayor getting ready to make a statement. we'll standby. we don't know all the details of the protests that are going on but obviously there's a lot of concern in the aftermath of what is happened in ferguson. tom, you're former assistant director of the fbi. they have some serious problems. this is a community about 70% african-american. they're looking for a new police chief. they have a acting police chief. they have to get their act together and got to do it quickly. otherwise, they'll dissolve that whole police force and bring in outside law enforcement. >> i agree. back to jeffrey's point about the recommendation to dissolve it, i would like to hear what the people of jennings what

they think now. how did it work there? i don't think we've heard enough about that as an example. if that worked well and the people are happy with that i could be inclined to change my mind and support it. >> it's happened in other cities. how long does it take for a city to get its act together and move on? >> many place it was a budget issue. they couldn't afford the policing anymore. >> hold on a minute. here is the mayor. he's just walked in. >> good afternoon. the city of ferguson and police chief thomas jackson have agreed to a mutual separation which involves the police chief's resignation from the city of ferguson. the chief's resignation is effective march 19th 2015. this was a mutual decision both by the chief of police and the

city's administration. chief jackson will receive a severance payment with health insurance for one year. lieutenant cornell al will attend the duties effective thursday march 19th, 2015. we'll begin conducting a nationwide search for a new police chief. one week ago today, the stipofcity of ferguson received its final report from the department of justice. the city is committed to addressing each item outlined in the report. it's the city council's goal to continue to be transparent as we strooi strive to become a vibrant and diverse community. i would like to say this to ferguson residents, business owners and to the entire country, the city of ferguson looks to become an example of how a community can move forward in the face of adversity. we are committed to keeping our

police department and having one that exhibits the highest degree of professionalism and fairness. i'll open it up for questions. >> how much is that severance package? >> i believe his annual salary is 96,000 somewhere in that range. it's roughly 100,000. >> what can you tell us about the acting police chief? has he had much interaction with the residents of ferguson? >> he's new, rather new to the city of ferguson. he did start in august right before the events in august. i know he has, obviously, over the last six months spent a great deal of time working with the people of ferguson and our police department. our officers have a high degree

of respect for the professionalism and his abilities. we're blessed at this point to have him able to take the reigns while we search for a new police chief. >> how long will you be discussing with police jackson the terms of his departure and does a year severance for a five-year employee seem like a lot to you? >> some of those conversations are employee discussions and personnel discussions. i think it's fair to say private industries you would get similar treatment. >> is he permitted to stay until the justice department came in can you tell us about with them arriving to did he voluntarily leave? >> i think we've all been very candid for the last several

months that we have explored every option. how we try to bring the community together so that we can move forward. the chief is the kind of honorable man that you don't have to go to. he comes to you when he knows that this is something that we have to seriously discuss. after a lot of soul searching and it's very hard for him to leave and us to have him leave, he felt it was the best way forward doing this not only for the city but the men and women who served under him because he is and he has been committed to making sure the city of ferguson keeps the police department. the city of ferguson has been committed to that as well. that was a lot of it were kind

of his thought process and when he decided to make an exit. [ inaudible question ] >> those are recommendsations from the justice department. the city is looking at those. we are engaging consultants to tell us what that price tag might be and what are those -- try to tell us what is realistically what we need to be working on. we'll keep all that in mind as we go forward. [ inaudible question ] >> we've already engaged several experts on these issues. rough estimates and things going forward i would say that we

believe that it's something that we can do. >> we're going to continue our coverage. brianna filling in for erin burnett burnett picks up our coverage right now. >> right now -- >> good evening. i'm brianna. let's go back to ferguson missouri where the mayor has announced that police chief thomas jackson has resigned. >> absolutely. >> you talk and evaluate the job he did as police chief after you read that doj report that scathing report about how he ran the police department? >> we continue to go through that report and talk about where the break down was. the chief being an honorable man decided we needed to talk about the way moving forward was with someone else. he left. that is not to say