WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department will launch a civil rights probe of Lexington, Mississippi, and its police department after reports of excessive force and discriminatory policing, Kristen Clarke, the head of the department's Civil Rights Division, said on Wednesday.

The probe will examine whether police in the city of about 1,600 residents routinely commit civil rights violations.

Clarke said the Justice Department received credible allegations that Lexington police stopped and searched people without justification and routinely arrested people solely for using profane language.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone)