The world doesn't make sense these days --- left is right, up is down. So, on some level, fearing those charged with protecting us makes sense. But some on the left would have people believe the police target individuals based solely on the color of their skin.
Friday on The Glenn Beck Program, guest host Sheriff David Clarke --- who happens to be both black and a police officer --- talked with author and researcher Heather MacDonald about her new book The War on Cops to investigate these claims.
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"Heather, why don't we start by defining this 'Ferguson Effect' and what you found in your research," Clarke asked.
"Well, the 'Ferguson Effect' refers to the combined phenomenon of officers backing off of proactive policing and the resulting emboldening of criminals. Crime is going up," MacDonald said. "The Black Lives Matter movement has held that the police are the biggest threat facing young black men today. That's a complete lie. It ignores the sad reality of black-on-black crime."
Another alarming development, from the president on down, is the message that cracking down on small petty crimes in urban areas is inherently racist. By backing off policing these small crimes, criminals feel emboldened and violent crime has begun to rise as well.
Discounting this evidence is not only stupid - it's dangerous.
"There are some who want to discount this correlation right now, this nexus between this war on cops, what has happened outside of Ferguson, Baltimore and other areas. There's some criminologists that say it's too early. ...What do you say to those people who want to discount this right now?" Clarke asked.
"It's just amazing --- the denial of reality," MacDonald said. "One of the early 'Ferguson Effect' deniers, Richard Rosenfeld, at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, has now changed his mind. I've got to give him credit because he's now going to come under the same sort of attacks I have, I'm sure. But he looked at the 2015 data and said the only explanation that makes sense, that fits the data, is the back off on policing."
With the backing off of policing, Black Lives Matter has been able to grow in power and influence, despite being founded on a myth.
"Black Lives Matter is based on a lie, which is that cops are out there in a racist fashion gunning down blacks," MacDonald said. "The fact is, is that a police officer is over 18 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a cop," MacDonald said. "And now, thanks to the lives of the Black Lives Matter movement, officers are being completely dissuaded from [assertive policing]."
Sheriff Clarke knows firsthand just how hard the job is.
"I'm a 38-year, as you know, 38-year law enforcement veteran, and I'm still out on the street," Clarke said. "But I just want to point out, I'm still out there. I know what these men and women are up against every day of the week. And it is hard."
Listen to this segment at mark 21:22 from The Glenn Beck Program:
Featured Image: Protestors march on Huron Road on December 29, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Angelo Merendino/Getty Images).