The Ferguson Effect?

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Here we are almost 13 months after the night of rioting which followed the decision to not indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the killing of black teenager Michael Brown, and a lot has changed in St. Louis. I wish I could say it was for the better and that racial unity is happening in St. Louis, but it's not. The city has risen to the 4th most dangerous city in America and 19th most dangerous in the world. White people who walk in certain areas of the city or ride the city transit lines are jumped because of their skin color; police continue to profile black St. Louisans because of theirs. In the city that started the Black Lives Matter movement, the violence is so bad it seems that no lives matter. I live 6 minutes from where Michael Brown was killed and was present at many of the protests in September, October, and November following his death. I will leave my statement on the protests at - I saw good and bad done by both the police and the protesters. No one's hands are completely clean and no side can be completely vilified either for their actions during those months. There were a lot of people on both sides fighting for what they believed in and emotions ran high. The great majority of people though, didn't want violence. That is the one for sure thing we have seen happen to St. Louis since then however. It seems that violent crimes and murders went through the roof after the November riots happened. My neighborhood was never a great one, but people didn't kill each other. From November through the following fall, it was a rarity to go more than two weeks without a murder in the area. The entire city and metro area noted an increase in violent crimes in general. It was actually named 'The Ferguson Effect'. I really do believe the Ferguson issues caused a spike in violence throughout the area. What do you think? Can an event like that cause an increase in violent crime in general in a city?