Officers less motivated after Ferguson, study says

When FBI Director James Comey stated that the 'Ferguson effect' was real, his words sparked a national conversation on whether cameras hinder cops from doing their jobs. Our view: Cameras are here to stay. See the argument behind the decision.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Public scrutiny surrounding police shootings of unarmed civilians has diminished officers' morale but has not created a so-called "Ferguson effect," which claims the criticism has affected officers' willingness to perform their duties, a recent study shows.

Police across the USA are facing a crisis following highly publicized deadly force incidents in several cities in the past year, including the August 2014 shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., said Professor Justin Nix of the University of Louisville, who co-authored the study in the October issue of the American Psychological Association journal Law and Human Behavior.

"They see this press and this bad media surrounding their profession and it's resulting in reduced confidence among police officers," said Nix, who co-wrote the study with criminologist Scott Wolfe of the University of South Carolina.

As a result, the study indicates officers are being less proactive on the job and less willing to engage directly with people in the community to solve problems but those feelings decline if officers believe that their commanders and department are supporting them.

A similar phenomenon might be happening here, Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad said. His own data show 30% fewer arrests, citations, field interviews and served warrants in the 15 months following the Brown shooting, compared to the 15 months before that.

“They see this press and this bad media surrounding their profession and it's resulting in reduced confidence among police officers.”

Justin Nix, University of Louisville

"We are not seeing the same level of self-initiated activity since Ferguson that we saw before Ferguson," Conrad said.

Attributing the change to an increase in police scrutiny is difficult, but Conrad rejected any suggestion that Louisville police data should be used to suggest officers are being lax even as the city faces a seven-year high homicide rate. Several large U.S. cities including Baltimore, Chicago, Milwaukee, New Orleans and St. Louis have seen double-digit increases in their homicide rates.

"Whether that's connected to this 'Ferguson effect' or not, I can't say that," Conrad said. "But I don't believe for a second that our people are not out there working doing everything they can to make our community safe."

The study used a February survey in which deputies were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed that negative publicity during the previous six months made them less motivated at work or caused them to be less proactive on the job than they were in the past. It surveyed 567 deputies at an unnamed, mid-sized sheriff’s department serving about 393,000 residents in the southeast United States.

All sworn deputies were asked to complete a questionnaire and they and their department were guaranteed anonymity.

The research comes as police supporters and critics debate whether a so-called "Ferguson effect" is responsible for an uptick in inner-city violence. The theory is that increases in violent crime sweeping across Midwestern cities this year can be attributed to anti-police brutality protests and social media coverage focusing on officers' actions in the wake of Brown's controversial death.

FBI Director James Comey hinted that the surge in violence could be attributed to police apprehension because of the rise in civilians with cellphone cameras and the possibility that such recordings could go viral on social media.

"I don’t know whether this explains it entirely, but I do have a strong sense that some part of the explanation is a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement over the last year," Comey said in an Oct. 27 speech at the University of Chicago. "And that wind is surely changing behavior."

Officer morale may be taking a hit and police are cognizant of the heightened criticism, but the researchers said no empirical data supports that the "Ferguson effect" is behind surging violent crime rates across the country.

"Basically, (the police) don't like what's happening, but they're still going to go out and do their job," he said.

Officers' confidence in their superiors, who can guarantee departmental fairness, can improve police motivation, the study said. Officers' attitudes improved once confidence in their commanders was taken into account.

"The officers need to know that I'm there and will support them as they go about doing their job," Conrad said.

"But I also need people in our community to be supportive of the police officers," he said. "That doesn't mean you can't criticize when there's a problem. It doesn't mean you can't complain if an officer doesn't do what you think they should."