Nearly six years after Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer, sparking months of protests in the Missouri city and across the US, a county prosecutor announced Thursday that his office will not charge the officer after reinvestigating the case.

The Trump administration doesn’t think the Justice Department should investigate local police departments. But in Ferguson, there’s “light at the end of that tunnel.”

American police are under intense scrutiny. A series of highly publicized deadly-force incidents involving minorities has focused media and public attention on police practices. There has been much speculation that this increased criticism has led some law enforcement agencies to pull back, possibly contributing to rising crime in many cities — an alleged relationship that has come to be termed the “Ferguson effect.”

Mayor James Knowles signaled Wednesday the city is ready to take on the Justice Department in federal court after municipal leaders voted to revise a tentative agreement to overhaul Ferguson's troubled police department and court system.

The mayor's comments came a day after city council members in the St. Louis suburb voted unanimously to remove language from the agreement that, local officials assert, mandates big raises for police officers. City leaders also sought to cap fees for required federal monitoring of the program at $1 million.

There are two sides to every story. If we only consider the story from one point of view, are we truly thinking for ourselves, or simply being told what to think?

“We tend to choose up sides very quickly…All the liberals line up on one side and all the conservatives line up on the other,” says Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. But complicated issues deserve more than knee-jerk reactions.

After Michael Brown's shooting, a group was tasked with investigating the regions inequalities. Their report points to deep racial and economic tensions and calls for sweeping policy changes.

One year ago, the world watched as militarized police aimed their weapons at civilians protesting the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The widespread use of tear gas and other tactics sparked a national conversation on the harsh police treatment of the mostly peaceful protesters. Despite scrutiny, including a Department of Justice report critiquing the involved police departments' use of force, they do not seem to have changed their ways in handling protests.