Dakota Beacon

Murder rates in many cities skyrocketed in 2015 and 2016. The reason given is the reduction of proactive policing in high crime neighborhoods of many US cities. And, the reason for the reduction of proactive policing is, as a minimum, the fear by police of recrimination and of being wrongly accused of racism in pursuit of their duties. Proactive policing by officers sparked a backlash by the politically correct race industry. This, in turn, generated physical reprisals and executions of police by civilians. Such withdrawal by police of vigorous law enforcement from crime-ridden areas is known as the “Ferguson Effect.”

In 2014, white police officer Darren Wilson from Ferguson, MO, shot and killed an unarmed black man, Michael Brown. The US Department of Justice investigated the incident. Many in the anti-cop camp hoped Wilson would be prosecuted. Instead, evidence revealed that Brown had reached for Wilson’s gun. The investigation further discredited witness accounts of an innocent Brown being shot in the back. This case spawned the term “Ferguson Effect” and gave rise to the anti-cop leftist political movement Black Lives Matter.

The term “Ferguson Effect” was first coined by Manhattan Institute’s Heather MacDonald in a Wall Street Journal article in May 2015. FBI Director James Comey confirmed the “Ferguson Effect” in a speech at the University of Chicago Law School in October 2015.

Keeping perspective, twenty years ago US crime rates were much higher. That was before proactive policing became widespread. Between 1994 and 2014 crime rates fell dramatically nationwide. One city in particular led the way. New York City saw the steepest decline in crime rates as a result of a policing revolution. In 1990 there were 2,245 homicides in New York City. In 2014 the rate fell to 333 – an 85 percent decrease.

New York’s revolution spread nationally. It began with the idea that police action could actually prevent crime, not just respond to it. In 1994, the NYPD began gathering and analyzing data on a daily and then on an hourly basis. Using computer technology the police sought for patterns of criminal behavior in high crime areas in an attempt to quell outbreaks as they emerged.

Additionally, police commanders were held accountable for crime in their jurisdictions. Precinct commanders were grilled weekly on crime patterns on their watch in their precincts. These accountability sessions were known as CompStat – short for COMPuter STATistics. Ranking police department authorities could identify spikes in crime using comparative statistics. Those spikes could then be addressed through targeted law enforcement. CompStat components included accurate intelligence, rapid deployment of resources, effective tactics and unrelenting follow-up. Commanders who were not informed about every crime outbreak and who failed to have a plan to deal with that outbreak found his career in jeopardy.

In today’s climate of political correctness crime rates are once again rapidly rising. Any white police officer enforcing law and order involving a black perpetrator is automatically seen as racist. Woe unto any police officer who must use deadly force to protect his life or the lives of others if the culprit is black.

Who is hurt most by police reticence to engage in proactive policing of high crime neighborhoods? Inevitably it is the black population in the inner cities.

Each year approximately 6,000 blacks are murdered, a number greater than white and Hispanic murder victims combined. Who is killing blacks? Not the police. Not white civilians. The police could end all use of deadly force immediately and the black death-by-homicide rate would still be astronomical. That is a direct function of black-on-black crime.

The anti-cop dogma of Black Lives Matter maintains that enforcement actions must parallel population data otherwise the police are considered “racist.” Returning again to New York City as an example demonstrates the stupidity of this dogma. In New York City blacks comprise 23 percent of the population. Coupled with Hispanics they total 98 percent of all gunfire in the city. Whites are 33 percent of the population but they account for less than 2 percent of all shootings. Therefore, every time New York City police are called to shooting incidents they are destined for minority neighborhoods looking for minority suspects. The use of proactive tactics in minority neighborhoods is warranted. Unfortunately, proactive tactics are on the decline as a result of the “Ferguson Effect.”

It is anyone’s guess as to the outcome of the anti-cop passion of Black Lives Matter supported by President Obama and his Justice department. This resembles kids playing with fire. If it gets out of hand it will be hard to put out.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).