Anatomy of a Ferguson Cycle – by Charles Fain Lehman

Back in 2015, my Manhattan Institute colleague Heather MacDonald popularized the term “Ferguson effect” to refer to a dramatic increase in homicide which (the term and she implied) was caused by the wave of protests, in turn instigated by the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the year before. The homicide rate rose 11 percent in 2015, and another 10 percent in 2016, before cresting and receding. This, MacDonald and others argued at the time, was the result of a reduction in police proactivity, itself caused by political attacks on and criticism of the police in the wake of Brown’s death (among other high-profile incidents).
— Read on thecausalfallacy.com/p/anatomy-of-a-ferguson-cycle

Vital City | Calling the Cops Less Often

Polling shows that public safety is among New York City voters’ top concerns. But it’s important to be specific when talking about the issue. Candidates in the recent Democratic mayoral primary focused mainly on quality-of-life issues — homelessness, mental illness, public drug use — and not on violent crime. There’s good reason for that: New York has seen a remarkable drop in murders, with the NYPD reporting shootings at an all-time low through the first half of the year. Of course, there is work left to do, including stemming a years-long rise in felony assaults — but it seems as though lower-level crimes are top-of-mind for many New Yorkers.
— Read on www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/calling-the-cops-less-often

Research: Police uses of lethal force dropped dramatically in US from 2021-23 – News Bureau

The number of police-involved lethal force incidents in the U.S. dropped 24% from 2021 to 2023, according to research from the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The Cline Center’s SPOTLITE project has compiled nearly a decade’s worth of data to track and identify police uses of lethal force across the U.S.
— Read on news.illinois.edu/research-police-uses-of-lethal-force-dropped-dramatically-in-us-from-2021-23/

Police oppose new plan to overhaul qualified immunity

The contentious debate over qualified immunity for police officers returned to Beacon Hill as law enforcement leaders forcefully pushed back against a bill that would ease the path for civil rights claims against officers in Massachusetts courts.
— Read on www.lowellsun.com/2025/08/03/police-oppose-new-plan-to-overhaul-qualified-immunity/