Last year, two Black men were beaten and tasered by six officers in a no-warrant house raid. Since then, the Justice Department said it got more complaints regarding similar instances by the deputies.

Authorities said the civil rights probe would examine whether officers systemically targeted minorities with excessive force.

The Justice Department has launched a civil rights investigation into the sheriff’s department in Mississippi’s Rankin County after several of its deputies – including some who were in a self-styled “Goon Squad” – abused and tortured two Black men in a racially charged home raid last year.