Page 43 - 1Proactive Policing

Pro-Active Policing

De-policing represents a de facto police strike, in which the police withdraw an aspect of their
crime prevention services. It is a practical police protest at perceived political interference in their

day-to-day task of policing.

Author Heather MacDonald has offered yet another interpretation for the term "de-policing." In her

book, The War on Cops, she uses the term as the antithesis for pro-active policing in general. In
the light of the Eric Garner case in Staten Island, NY and criticism of Broken Windows policing,

MacDonald has used this term to describe the NYPD's policy of backing away from actively
pursuing Stop and Frisk procedures as a primary method of crime prevention. Recent court
decisions like Ligon and Floyd have also contributed to the atmosphere of de-policing in many

areas of the country, but particularly New York City. Cities like Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD
have been similarly affected due to what is perceived as unfair and aggressive policing in minority

communities.

Critics have long claimed that when the law regulates police behavior it inadvertently reduces

officer aggressiveness, thereby increasing crime. This hypothesis has taken on new significance
in recent years as prominent politicians and law enforcement leaders have argued that increased
oversight of police officers in the wake of the events in Ferguson, Missouri has led to an increase

in national crime rates. Using a panel of American law enforcement agencies and difference-in-
difference regression analyses, this Article tests whether the introduction of public scrutiny or
external regulation is associated with changes in crime rates. To do this, this Article relies on an

original dataset of all police departments that have been subject to federally mandated reform
under 42 U.S.C. § 14141 — the most invasive form of modern American police regulation. This

Article finds that the introduction of § 14141 regulation was associated with a statistically
significant uptick in crime rates in affected jurisdictions. This uptick in crime was concentrated in
the years‘ immediately after federal intervention and diminished over time. This finding suggests

that police departments may experience growing pains when faced with external regulation.

The year 2015 has been a tumultuous one for police. Officers seem to have to respond to a rapid
mass murder incident about once every few weeks. The media‘s over-inflated coverage of such
events, coupled with the conflation of terms like ―active shooter,‖ ―active killer,‖ ―mass murder,‖

and ―mass shooting‖ make it all but impossible to put a definitive number on how many incidents
took place this year, but indisputably the issue has been on the front burner for LEOs in the past
12 months.

43