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Police Enforcement Agencies Work Under Extreme Pressure And Stress From The Media

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With all the negative media attention police departments and law enforcement agencies are receiving, it is not surprising factor that the police would be less inclined to work with the community to fight crime. It seems as if the citizens are against the police and that is only going to cause more issues and problems. Police have to live in constant fear that they are being criticized and their every move is being analyzed for wrong-doing. They have to second-guess every movement and action they make, which can quickly become highly dangerous. Police are expected to be perfect robots and the public seemingly forgets that they are also human. What has caused our police officers to work in constant fear? What is making our police …show more content…

It has to a point where any time a police officer has an incident with a person of a different race, it will be considered racially motivated. The Ferguson Effect is a theory that police officers have “slowed down” enforcement due to public scrutiny. The Ferguson Effect theory suggests that because of police officers “slowing down”, crime rates have increased dramatically. The Ferguson Effect theory also believes that because of the negative public publicity in the last year, police officers are less inclined to work with the community to fight crime, in fear of being considered the next story of police brutality or accused of racial profiling or excessive force. Is the Ferguson Effect to blame for police officers being less inclined to work with the community to fight crime? Have crime rates truly increased because of the Ferguson incident?
Whether the Ferguson Effect is the cause of the supposed increase in crime, especially violent crimes, such as homicide, is a matter of opinion. Some would say that the Ferguson Effect is the reason crime rates have increased dramatically in major cities, such as Chicago, St. Louis, and New York. Many criminologist would disagree and have stated that the numbers do not prove that the Ferguson Effect is behind the apparent increase in crime rates. President Obama has even exclaimed that there is not a nation-wide crime increase because of the

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