Research Paper on The Post-Ferguson Era: Impact on Citizens & Police

The post-Ferguson era introduced the diversification of crime by diversifying the police based on their ethnic background. The aim was to enable the police to deal with the crimes differently and therefore curb the rising crime rates in the United States. Following many police actions like shooting people with live bullets has been seen to increase crime and the public names it the Fergusson effect.

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This era has impacted not only on the citizens but also the police. Sever different researchers conducted research. Different people aimed at different objectives did the study. Some were finding out if the effect existed, its impact the diversification of crimes had on both the police and the public at large. The findings are varied and will be discussed below.

The rise of crimes resulted from the increased violence of the police in particular races, mainly black. According to Desmond, Papachristos, and Kirk, the police violence is experienced by the black men and thus has raised a public threat which has also lowered the reporting of a crime (Desmond, Papachristos & Kirk, 2016). The violence, according to him, is too much that the public is at the fear of reporting certain crimes for fear that the victim will be armed.

The article analyses the Milwaukee's case on the murder of Frank Jude, affected the police call on 911 related to this very particular incident. The research revealed that over 22, 200 calls were lost within a year over the same request, especially from the resident of the black neighborhoods. In the journal, one of his major claims is that the violence of the police during this Ferguson era led significantly suppressed the primary form of civic engagement, that is the calling of 911 for a matter of public and personal safety.

The use of technology, according to Desmond, publicly spread the scenes around which the police assaulted people. This is referred to as legal cynicism that was rampant, especially among the black community, due to the diversification of crime in the police department. The violence decreased the reporting of crimes since people are threatened and thus can account for the increased crime rates. This is because; failure of the public to report these crimes would be like giving the criminals freedom. They can do what they want since there is no one to report them and therefore, shooting up the rimes rates.

One of the factors that contribute to these legal cynics is the reaction of the police towards the crimes that are being reported. Research done revealed that a majority of the people are willing to work together with the police in the reporting of these cases. However, when it comes to the action, only a few do so report. The primary reason is that a majority of the cases are not responded to, and therefore, people are reluctant to report them.

People are thus discouraged and therefore, prefer to deal with the state they are in. Many crime cases go unpunished and therefore, increases the number of crimes done. This may encourage the criminals also who also freely venture into this arena since the chances of them becoming arrested are high. People are too scared of the fact that someone who may have just been a suspect may be brutally dealt with by the police, following the previous cases that have been reported and those going viral in the social media.

It also affects the attitude of people towards the security forces. The security agencies have also neglected these duties given to their law enforcement team. This irresponsibility of the police and their heads makes people indifferent (Desmond et al., 2016). The suggestions given indicate that the police repercussions extend beyond the trauma and the tragedy of an individual act. It thus affects the entire public, following what they see in the media and other publications.

A case in the Milwaukee Journal of Jude, for example, would better explain this situation of public threat and mistrust of the police. Jude and Harris both back Americas are invited to a party by a friend, supposedly a police party. On arrival, they felt uncomfortable and left. They two are accused of stealing a police badge, and the police who were there began to fight them, but Harris escaped. Jude is severely beaten such that on reporting, the injuries were too much and severe that it could be documented.

The case first takes several months before it is reported and the perpetrators are arrayed in court. The protest of people following the receipt of the report is what made the courts respond to the case. This indicates that had the public, especially the blacks not protested; it could not have been acted on. There are several other cases which may not have attracted the public uproar, and they go unnoticed. People, therefore, become disillusioned since it is apparent that for ones case to be acted upon, it should be on the limelight on instead, be conspicuous enough to attract the action of the court. If not, it may as well have been left unattended. Such cases thus account for the public attitude of people against law enforcement and the low rate of crime reporting.

The events following the case of Frank Jude, as discussed above, affect the interaction of individuals with law enforcement officers. Say, for example, his family, are hurt and would have little or no trust at all in the police after low response to his tragedy. It also affects the social ties of an individual as a result of the vicarious experience, which adequately influences the attitude of the people towards the police.

Such incidences also give a permanent social memory to the people. The Jude case would be a point of reference for many future generations to come. It would influence the regular reporting of crimes by the citizens, especially of particular races. The whites experience few similar cases and within the neighborhoods of the Latino citizens. Undermining the public safety of the people through neglecting of crime reporting and allowing for legal cynicism is a clear indication of excessive use of the monopoly power by the police which brings about the increased crime and violence in the society.

Beckett also reviews the reality of the Ferguson effect on the police in the article titled Is the 'Ferguson effect real?' This research focused on prior study, which previously debunked the existence of Ferguson effect. The second thoughts are evidenced by the investigation, which revealed a 17% increase in homicides recorded in the year 2015 (Beckett, 2016). Of the 17 % increase, ten of the cities greatly affected was mainly composed of black citizens. This must-have resulted from a trust breakdown on the policy as a result of the murder of unarmed black men around the neighborhoods.

The article majorly looks at the Fergusson effect on the relationship between the black and police, following the diversity that was introduced in Law enforcement. One significant negative impact that is eminent in this research is that it brings about public protests among the diversified groups, particularly the black nation.

Her new view on the matter looks deeper into the possibilities of political interference and influence in the case. With the upcoming protests on the violence of the police, it is mentioned that the political class must have had a hand in this. There are several occasions when President Obama and other high profile political leaders persistently said I press that the Ferguson effect is not real. The question that is raised is what about the camera footages of police assaulting people that are circulating in the social media?

The FBI director also openly rejected the claims of the existence of the Ferguson effect. He termed the question of the circulating videos and the public issues and a wind blowing through American law enforcement. Critics have it that this conservation of the Ferguson effect from the diversification is a plan to undermine the revolutionary movement of the American policing system.

Reports from places like Chicago of cases of shooting increasing from 600 to 1000, a 56% increase with many people being murdered can better explain the state. This follows the comments of a CNN interviewee, Comey, who questioned the claims of the president on the non-existence of Ferguson effect (Beckett, 2016). This also questioned the credibility of the demands of the attorney general Loretta Lynch who said there is no data to support the claims of the Ferguson effect. There is thus, from his report a political influence. In an s much as there may have been political influence, what then could cause the police not to respond to the crimes being reported, or instead respond to only a few cases.

The role of the media, however, has also an impact on the efficiency of the police in their work. Beckett, in her opinion, says that the increased crime rates during the Ferguson era are as a result of police fearing to be the ones featuring in the next viral video. They thus retrench from working effectively and affect the efficiency of their work. The public is thus affecting and feel like they are being failed. This insecurity and the miscommunications bring about the situation where the crime rates go high; little response is received from the police and the public consequently as expected would take it back on the police.

The personal security of the police officer is at stake in all these scenarios, equally to the safety of the citizen. The police not only are afraid of the social criticism from videos that go viral, but other factors contribute to their ear. This includes the insecurity of failure of city officials to protect them from some mistakes, termed as honest mistakes in the line of duty while dealing with some difficult job. They thus retrieve from these by not responding to cases which may expose them to such matters.

This may explain the previous article, which focused on the failure of police to respond to criminal reports from the public. Therefore, the heat on crime increase becomes challenging to trace back to the real cause of this bizarre situation in the relationship between the people and the law enforcement team in the United States on America. The dilemma is whether to blame the law enforcement leaders or to blame the politicians who may be doing it deliberately on political grounds.

Richard Rosenfeld, in the national institute of justice, also had research under this topic, on the effect of diversification of crime on police in the Ferguson era. Hid article mainly focused on the rise of homicide in the year 2015, as a result of the Ferguson effect supposedly. In the theses, the defense against the murder was not resultant only from the Ferguson effect, but other factors like drug trafficking and the release of prisoners contribute to the state.

The Ferguson effect, according to Richard, is not to be exclusively accounted for the rise in crime. The research done in over 51 countries in the United States revealed that a majority of the nation affected are those with the black Americans being the broader population. He says that the few incidences that have been shown of the police use of excessive force led to discontentment, which further erupts to violence (Richard, 2016). This violence thus is the resultant criminal activities that are counted along with those from other causes of the rise of illegal activities within the countries.

The de-policing effect of a side-effect of the Ferguson effect is to be evaluated from the data of arrests and other self-initiated activities by the police. De-policing purportedly resulted in the decline of arrests of criminals. This little response to criminal activities of the police brings about chronic discontentment which escalates to homicide and therefore...