"Ferguson Effect"?

[TGS]

Addressing police chiefs at a conference in Chicago, Comey said he could not be certain that the so-called “Ferguson effect”, following unrest in the Missouri city after the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old last year, had led to a retreat by officers, but said this was “common sense”.

Therein lies the problem. Sounds like the conference basically went like this:

"So, bosses. Do you feel your superiors and your own short sighted, arrogant, and piss poor PC management philosophies are responsible for the low people on the totem pole not being proactive? No?

Yeah, sounds good enough for me too. We are bosses ,anyways. There is no problem, for if there was one it would be someone else's fault anyways. Meeting adjourned.

It sounded very opposite to me. Comey basically said, "Yeah, I think so.....but I don't have any concrete data to make a supported argument with; so don't quote me."

[GardoneVT]

It sounded very opposite to me. Comey basically said, "Yeah, I think so.....but I don't have any concrete data to make a supported argument with; so don't quote me."

Unfortunately, there is one concrete piece of data Comey must confront: Barrack H. Obama is on the same org chart he is. Stating citeable proof of Obama's race baiting in a symposium at his hometown may not be the fastest way to achieve forced reassignment to the Benghazi field office, but its gotta be up there.

[voodoo_man]

I could say the slowing ive seen is in part because of some randomly named effect, but its been a pretty steady decline and it hasnt had anything to do with protestors ans everything to do with the way the top brass conduct themselves.

Personally I can care less what anyone has to say about what I did or didnt do, I am going to work because thats what I signed up for.

[Sammy1]

Observed a B/M run a red light, thought about the potential hassle and turned left and went on my way.

[Dagga Boy]

I still have very good contact with LE across the country. What is going on is a perfect storm of several issues. All of them are essentially right out of the liberal progressive idea of "fixing things". Decriminalization of crime. Essentially, they are letting tons of criminals out of jail who are bad folks based on an idea that they were in jail for some minor crime or a "disease" (drug addiction). Reality, they were plea bargained in most cases to those "minor crimes" and they are stone cold bad guys. Anyone doing years in prison for a minor marijuana possession was there because of a plea bargain from likely something with little relevance to personal use Marijuana. In California, nothing is really a crime anymore. If it isn't worth the time, most cops will not take the risk if they are smart. I have said publicly and I will repeat it now....as a police officer, if you are working any kind of narcotics enforcement in a low income urban community, you are an idiot. Juice isn't worth the squeeze. Job risk with no backing is also an issue. When the new sport in many areas is videoing LE officers constantly the second they exit the car.......they aren't getting out of the car, especially for bosses who won't back them and a community that won't support them. What I call the "Who takes black lives matter" effect. As long as police are not killing black folks, all is good. This means cops stay disengaged from the black community, so they are turning into war zones, and honestly....most people could give a crap. Cops used to work those communities to save those poor kids in those places who always seemed to be the victims of stray bullets and spill over violence. They worked those neighborhoods for the elderly who were constantly victimized. Now, they are racist if you arrest anyone who is a special victim class, so they simply come and clean up the mess. You have a community where "no snitching" is now the standard of cooperation, and robbery, intimidation, theft, and drug use are "cultural crimes".....the cops are done trying to do the right thing for the kids and elderly....again, the juice isn't worth the squeeze. You can try to stop a drive by or gang shooting by pro-active stops before they happen and risk your life, career, and family, or take a report on the kid who was shot by a "stray" bullet with no risk at all........you don't have to be a genius to figure this out. By the way, the same ones screaming about "racial profiling"(often in places where everyone is the same race) are the same ones screaming when their child is severely injured or dead about the cops "not doing nothing".
Then we have stats. The world revolves around these and politicians cook them (at a certain rank in police management, they are politicians as well). Two things they cannot cook-homicides (as much as they may try to make the questionable deaths go away, it is hard to make a majority go away). The other is auto theft, because of how stolen cars are often entered into the system. Now, the folks that steal cars will have those cases plea bargained to something else, so you cannot look at arrests. The actual number of vehicles stolen is a very good crime indicator.
Until the community really revolts, nothing is going to change, and it will likely get worse. The other issue will also be the recruiting of high quality candidates for police officers....it will be interesting in the future to see what ends up patrolling our streets.

[cclaxton]

Aren't these all different for each city/jurisdiction? When Comey speaks in generalities about policing across the entire nation, doesn't that miss the point?
I doubt any LE are slowing down in Fairfax, but facts show they are in Baltimore. I know many people who live in downtown Baltimore, some in Baltimore City Gov't. The stories the tell me are very much like The Wire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire
Cody

[Dagga Boy]

Aren't these all different for each city/jurisdiction? When Comey speaks in generalities about policing across the entire nation, doesn't that miss the point?
I doubt any LE are slowing down in Fairfax, but facts show they are in Baltimore. I know many people who live in downtown Baltimore, some in Baltimore City Gov't. The stories the tell me are very much like The Wire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire
Cody

Let me give you a "link" to all these different areas that are seeing these issues..........look at the political leaning of the city government. The harder left, the worse the issue.

[jondoe297]

I can tell you with certainty that in my AOR, things are much less proactive post-Ferguson. The atmosphere has also emboldened the average street shitbird as well.
Our jail has +/- 240 people in it. A year ago that number was over 400.

As nyeti astutely noted, which way on the political pendulum the city swings has a lot to do with it. My city is no exception to that.

[DpdG]

..... they aren't getting out of the car, especially for bosses who won't back them and a community that won't support them.

I think this is likely the most crucial element. Video in itself is not scary- I'm proud of the work I do and the way I conduct myself. I do care about my community and its welfare, even those within who may not like us most days. What scares me is the possibility of being a sacrificial pawn to the political gods, even if I were doing the right thing.

Fortunately my bosses are pretty good, and I'm comfortable enough to stay out there and be proactive, but I'm in a small community.

[hufnagel]

I'd expect there to be some differential based on the size of the community and police force for said. For example, I'm on a first-name basis with the (acting) 1st. LT at my local PD. Maybe it's because he's the guy that handles all the firearms paperwork (which he hates.) I'm a 6.266 mi² town of 13,000 though so I see our guys all the time though.