The Ferguson effect refers to the concept that led to the stepping up of police scrutiny following an event that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri in the year involving the shooting of Michael Brown. In that respect, this particular event contributed to an increased rate of crime in major cities of the United States. According to Gross and Mann (2017), certain cities in the United States have been able to experience escalating violence whereby some police officers have reportedly found themselves under siege occasioned by the violence. However, there have not been sufficient explanations to attribute the changes in the rates of crime to the Ferguson event. In this respect, the reduction in the rate of crime across the United States over the previous several decades is attributable to factors such as the existence of legal abortion, lowered exposures to lead, and mass incarceration (Brown & Daus, 2015).
It is widely believed that the Ferguson effect had a considerable role to play in obstructing law enforcement in some of the major cities across the United States. Studies have previously been able to identify the existence of substantial levels of fear among police officers concerning their safety while performing the daily duties and responsibilities of policing. Moreover, research has been able to establish the presence of a stark difference regarding the manner in which black and white police officers portray the protests happened owing to shootings of high-profile individuals considered to be black suspects. In this particular situation, the black police officers were entirely convinced about the legality, genuineness, and legitimacy of the protests as civil disobedience acts designed with the aim of holding them accountable and responsible. On the other hand, the white police officers remained skeptical concerning the motives of these protestors (Decker, Wolfe & Shjarback, 2016).
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The Ferguson even could be used in enhancing the police as well as the strategies to inspire the inner city units into trusting the police. In cities like Washington, Tacoma, and New Orleans, there have been enhanced communications and conversations between members of the local communities and the police among other law enforcement agencies with the objective of healing the wounds occasioned by historical injustices. Besides, the enhancement of strategies in boosting the trust between members of the inner cities and the police could go to the extent of acknowledging the role of various officers in creating racial inequities. The observation by Nix and Wolfe (2016) indicates that there have been increasingly hopeful and incremental steps by elected officials in inner cities towards strengthening the ties between the community and the police following the developments that characterized the Ferguson event.
Brown and Daus (2015) claim that less than adequate studies have been conducted with the objective of establishing the effectiveness of the efforts directed to the improvement of police and the strategies in making the inner cities to trust the police. Moreover, researchers have not entirely identified, with certainty, some of the most appropriate and practical techniques of rebuilding the trust between the police and communities in the inner cities. The Ferguson event appears to inspire the enhancement of policing and law enforcement operations within the various communities living in the inner cities. To this extent, it would be prudent to consider the engagement of members of the local communities in oversight and planning as well as the promotion of the youth development as a way of lowering the crime rate. Other considerations that are associated with improvement of the police and trust between them and the inner cities include reforming police training, ensuring that residents access the available resources, and strengthening the personal relationships existing between the residents and police officers (Nix & Wolfe, 2018).
References
Brown, S., & Daus, C. (2015). The influence of police officers’ decision-making style and anger control on responses to work scenarios. Journal Of Applied Research In Memory And Cognition , 4 (3), 294-302. doi: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2015.04.001
Decker, S., Wolfe, S., & Shjarback, J. (2016). Was there a Ferguson Effect on crime rates in large U.S. cities?. Journal Of Criminal Justice , 46 , 1-8. doi:
10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2016.01.001
Gross, N., & Mann, M. (2017). Is There a “Ferguson Effect?” Google Searches, Concern about Police Violence, and Crime in U.S. Cities, 2014–2016. Socius: Sociological Research For A Dynamic World , 3 , 237802311770312. doi: 10.1177/2378023117703122
Nix, J., & Wolfe, S. (2016). Sensitivity to the Ferguson Effect: The role of managerial organizational justice. Journal Of Criminal Justice , 47 , 12-20. doi:
10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2016.06.002
Nix, J., & Wolfe, S. (2018). Management-level officers’ experiences with the Ferguson effect. Policing: An International Journal , 41 (2), 262-275. doi: 10.1108/pijpsm-11 2016-0164
