Date of Conferral
2021
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Public Policy and Administration
Advisor
Tony Smith
Abstract
De-policing or pulling back from proactive policing existed before the shooting death of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014. Shortly after this incident, de-policing was blamed for alleged increasing national crime rates and this connection came to be called the “Ferguson Effect.” Since then, most Ferguson Effect research has focused mainly on this connection, with little research into officer perceptions. This nonexperimental quantitative study examined officer perceptions of the Ferguson Effect 5 years after the incident and compared it with their views of government oversight of local law enforcement, legal liability, and officer safety. Based on prior research, the confounding influence of self-legitimacy and organizational justice perceptions were also examined. Further, this study collected and compared often-overlooked small agency officer data with large agencies. Using the theory of reasoned action as a theoretical framework, this study surveyed nonrank patrol-level officers at 53 agencies in a 14-county metropolitan statistical area of a large southeastern city in the United States. Pearson’s r (zero-order correlation) analysis indicated that officers still have strong perceptions of the Ferguson Effect 5 years afterwards, and those views correlate with concerns over government oversight, legal liability, and officer safety. OLS regression analysis indicated a decreasing influence of self-legitimacy and organizational justice, and no difference between large and small agency officer perceptions. These findings have social change implications by suggesting officer perceptions of the Ferguson Effect have not diminished over time, while previous confounding factors have. As important policy decisions regarding police reform are being made, the police officer perspective on the Ferguson Effect and other issues is vital.
Recommended Citation
Wilcox, Darrin Neil, "Five Years of the Ferguson Effect: An Officer Perspective" (2021). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 10760.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/10760
