A federal investigation of the Miami Police Department has uncovered a pattern of excessive force and delays in the investigation of police shootings. The probe was launched in 2011 after a spate of killings by Miami officers of young African-American men — seven killed over the course of eight months. In recent years Miami has seen one fatal shooting per every 220 police officers, compared to one for every 4,300 officers in New York City. In total, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division found officers fired at people intentionally 33 times from 2008 to 2011. In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said the findings should lead to prosecutions, saying: “People’s rights have been violated and lives have been unjustly taken. Now that the groundwork has been laid … we expect a follow-up investigation into the conduct of Miami Police Department officers who were responsible.”