Obama warns police officers against 'cherry-picking' crime data

Ciara McCarthy in Chicago
Tuesday 27 October 2015 20.51 GMT

Barack Obama cautioned an audience of police officers against cherry-picking crime data as policing experts said they would investigate whether less aggressive policing tactics may have driven an increase in crime, a controversial theory dubbed the “Ferguson effect.”

“We do have to stick with the facts,” the president said in a speech on Monday to the International Association of Chiefs of Police. “What we can’t do is cherry-pick data or use anecdotal evidence to drive policy.”

Obama spoke to law enforcement leaders after the White House and the FBI director sparred over the existence of the Ferguson effect and whether it has impacted crime.

The president said that violent crime rates this year appeared to be nearly as low as last year, despite headlines proclaiming that violent crime was rising dramatically nationwide. Multiple large cities have seen an uptick in violence, prompting some to point to the “Ferguson effect” as the explanation.

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