CNN Notes FBI Director Blaming ‘Ferguson Effect’ For Crime Increase

Has a “chilling effect” on police activity, sparked by increased scrutiny by cellphone cameras and media attention in the wake of Ferguson, Mo. controversy, caused an uptick in crime? That’s a theory apparently getting traction with FBI Director James Comey, who CNN reports “… has thrown his weight behind the idea that restraint by cops in the wake of criticism is at least partly to blame for a surge in violent crime in some cities.”
 
The important CNN report outlines that violent crime is actually at historic lows but certainly has increased when compared year-to-year in some cities. The report also notes that the increase comes just as various political factions seem to agree that reduced criminalization and incarceration rates should be a civic goal.
 

Why Ferguson Opposed The ‘Ferguson Reforms’

With civil unrest in Ferguson, MO, once again making headlines, it’s probably worth noting that much of all this had to do with municipal court reform. In particular, it had to do with traffic tickets given to poor African-Americans and pretty much funding the city with that system. The Justice Department report called for sweeping changes, the state called for sweeping changes and newspapers reported on the famous “Ferguson Reforms.”
 
But once the national spotlight moved on, Ferguson and towns like it did not embrace the reforms, which by and large did not actually become law. One reason is that new laws would have placed limits on how much of a local city’s budget came from traffic enforcement, which some leaders think could lead to some towns going away. Conservatives, it turns out, have been on a “consolidation” kick of late… you can see POLITICO break down the issues here:
 

HuffPo Offers Look Back One Year After Ferguson

In one of those “it’s been a year already?” moments, the Huffington Post is offering a major deep-dive story into what the Ferguson unrest meant to both the local community and to the United States. It’s a good look at how things have changed, including the media treatment of police shootings. In particular, the story illustrates how non-criminal cases migrate into jail-worthy events.
 
The team-written report mostly comes down on the side of things getting better and perhaps the protests paying off, saying “… Ferguson’s protests spawned at least 40 state measures aimed at improving police tactics and use of force. The national conversation around race and policing has shifted so dramatically that the director of the FBI said law enforcement officials historically enforced “a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups” and discussed how unconscious racial bias affects police officers with no pushback from the law enforcement community.”
 
See the story here: The Ferguson Protests Worked