The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday launched a sweeping civil investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis following a jury's verdict of former city police officer Derek Chauvin's murder of George Floyd.

The probe is the first major action by Attorney General Merrick Garland, after President Joe Biden vowed to address systemic racism in the country. It will investigate whether the department engages "in a pattern or practice of using excessive force, including during protests," he said.

He added it will also examine whether the department "engages in discriminatory conduct and whether its treatment of those with behavioral health disabilities is unlawful."

Chauvin's conviction was a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States and Floyd's death became a flashpoint in the national conversation about the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement and sparked worldwide protests.

"I know such wounds have deep roots. That too many communities have experienced those wounds firsthand. Yesterday's verdict in the state criminal trial does not address potentially systemic policing issues in Minneapolis," Garland said.

A separate criminal Justice Department investigation into whether the officers involved in Floyd's death violated his civil rights continues, according to Garland.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is also conducting its own investigation into the police department there. In separate statements, both the city attorney and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said they welcomed the federal investigation, and pledged to cooperate.

The Minneapolis City Council also signaled its support for the probe, saying it welcomed "the opportunity for the Department of Justice to use the full weight of its authority to hold the Minneapolis Police Department accountable for any and all abuses of power."

The jury on Tuesday found Chauvin, 45, guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter after considering three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses, including bystanders, police officials and medical experts.

In a confrontation captured on video, Chauvin, a white veteran of the police force, pushed his knee onto the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man already handcuffed on the ground, for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020.

Even as crowds celebrated the verdict, protesters called for justice in the case of Daunte Wright, another Black man who was fatally shot by a police officer after a routine traffic stop on April 11, just a few miles from where Chauvin stood trial. Kimberly Potter, who has turned in her badge, has been charged with manslaughter in that case.

As the country focused on the guilty verdict in Minneapolis, police in Columbus, Ohio, fatally shot a Black teenage girl they confronted as she lunged at two people with a knife, as seen in police video footage of the encounter, authorities said. The incident also sparked street protests in Ohio.

(With input from Reuters and AP)