Cruel Cops vs. Crime Rates

People often accuse law enforcement agencies specifically cops of being overly brutal in their “enforcement” of the law. That the way they are enforcing the law is more of a threat than the people they are imposing it on. Is this true? It’s hard to tell. Individual cases such as the case of Freddie Gray prove that cop brutality is something that needs to be addressed. However, the excessive amount of publicity cases such as this one has received has placed all cops under the Microscope of the world. Keeping law enforcement agencies in check is a very necessary thing. But is this extreme scrutiny put officers in a sticky position? Has it scared them away of taking the necessary measures, and using the necessary force needed to protect our people?

          Many Cops including the Director of the FBI have stated that “Cops are afraid to do their jobs because of the ‘Ferguson Affect’.” What could the possibly be afraid that I am talking about? Well one officer stated that he is now afraid of making a street arrest because of the repercussions that this may entail. “We get no support from the media, from the public or from the court system. So we are always the person at fault.” He Said. “I can be patrolling in my squad car, and see a drug deal go down right in front of my eyes. But now I hesitate to get out of my vehicle and stop the crime being committed. I think to myself is this crime risking my life to stop? Because that's what the sad reality is for me now. I can be incriminated for or shot for doing my job exactly how I am supposed to.”

Another side effect of this negative media attention is that cops been disconnected from the community. It has made them more alienated because we all want to distance ourselves from this kind of bad attention. This has severed the public connections with the police force. In an unofficial statement a Minneapolis Police Sergeant stated that they have ‘Less than ⅓’ of the contacts they had just last year. Criminals have also been taking a notice in the fact that officers are more timid in their approach to stopping crime. Because of this they feel somewhat empowered to do brazen acts of violence and commit crimes they otherwise wouldn’t.

 Crime rates dramatic increases over the past 2 years, are reflecting this burst of confidence that criminals have been displaying. For example, in Chicago there was 359 shootings, and 82 murders in the first 3 months of the year 2015!  As shocking as that may sound this year during the first 3 months there were already 677 shootings and 141 murders! That means that the shooting rate is up a staggering 88% and the murder rates is up 72%!!! This is even more concerning when you consider the fact that the 2015 murder rate was up 12.5% or 486 murders from the year prior!  It’s not only Chicago though! Baltimore’s murder rate is up 63%! Dallas’s murder rate has gone up 71% This is happening all over the country! So now we must think is this “excessive” scrutiny that we have put our officers under helping our nation or is it making a more dangerous place every day?