Tensions escalated during a CNN segment on Tuesday evening when Ryan Girdusky, founder of the 1776 Project PAC, asserted that the “Ferguson effect” and a reduced police presence in communities contribute to increases in violent crime.
The term “Ferguson effect” was introduced by St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson in 2014, following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. This concept suggests that a decline in police enforcement results in a rise in violent crime. Girdusky contended that both the “Ferguson effect” and the death of George Floyd have led to an increase in fatalities among black males, in response to CNN’s Abby Phillips’ critique of former President Donald Trump’s call for military intervention to quell the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests during the summer of 2020.
“There are the post-George Floyd riots [that] resulted in 15,000 black male deaths in this country,” Girdusky said.
“How?” CNN commentator Bakari Sellers asked.
Girdusky stated that the reduced police presence during the 2020 riots was due to officers’ concerns regarding job security, which consequently resulted in an increase in violent crime.
“The surge of violent crime, it was like Ferguson effect, the Ferguson effect and the Floyd effect … Because what happens is after the Ferguson riot and after the Floyd riot, policemen in fear of their jobs many times and political coverage, pull back from their jobs resulting in crime size,” Girdusky said.
“Ryan, hold on, hold on. Ryan, we got to stop you there because you’re literally making a connection out of your own conjecture,” Phillips said. “You can not just do that.”
In October 2015, CNN released an article entitled “FBI chief tries to deal with the ‘Ferguson effect,’” in which former FBI Director James Comey associated the increase in violent crime with a reduction in police engagement.
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