The Patriot Post® · The 'Ferguson Effect' Crime Wave

Currently, major cities like Chicago are facing major spikes in crime. Earlier this month, we reported that the Windy City is on track to experience 500 homicides this year. And we know one reason why. According to data blog FiveThirtyEight the number of Chicago Police Department arrests dropped after the city released the Laquan McDonald video in November. It could be “The Ferguson Effect” — the unwillingness of police officers to engage possible perpetrators over fear that he officer will be roundly and wrongly criticized for their actions. And their departments are not backing them, as was once the case seven years ago. Bureaucracy is to blame as well. In Chicago, for example, police officers were recently saddled with a paperwork system that requires even more time to complete.

“It is worth repeating over and over again that we cannot take for granted our nation’s long decline in crime rate,” wrote National Review’s David French, “and we cannot reject the police tactics that contributed to this decline without experiencing real risk. Police shouldn’t be immune from scrutiny and critique, but the assault from Black Lives Matter and its allies is often both unthinking and malicious.” Its allies include first and foremost he Obama administration.

In Chicago, the number of homicides grew after the release of the video — lives lost mostly in the black communities there. While protesters chant “black lives matter,” the sad truth is their actions are causing even more black lives to be lost.