Jesse J. Norris

A Closer Look at the Alleged “War on Cops”: Post-Ferguson Trends in Ideologically-Motivated Homicides of Police Officers, 2008–2021

  • Law
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
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Some proponents of the “war on cops” thesis have suggested that the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement encourages people to murder police officers and is responsible for many civilian-on-police homicides. To evaluate such claims, this study examines all homicides of on-duty police officers by civilians from 2008 to 2021 ( n = 595) for ideological motives, and uses interrupted times series analysis to test for post-Ferguson trends. Ideological motivations were present in 12% of civilian-on-police homicides, and only 3% constituted terrorism. Right-wing motivations were far more common (6%) than left-wing motives (3%). Most analyses showed no significant increase in ideological civilian-on-police homicides after Ferguson. Although homicides with left-wing motives unconnected to personal revenge significantly increased after Ferguson, this only accounts for a small proportion of post-Ferguson homicides (4%). In short, there is no evidence that BLM unleashed a “war on cops” in which officers are increasingly targeted in ideological homicides.

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