FBI Director James Comey attributed a recent spike in crime to police officers not doing their jobs because they are afraid of being caught on video doing something wrong an unfounded claim that sparked outrage in police officials, the Obama administration and the Justice Department.
The “viral video effect” is Comey’s unsubstantiated belief that police officers are hesitant to make arrests for fear of winding up on a widespread video.
“He ought to stick to what he knows,” James Pasco Jr., executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, said to the NY Times. “He’s basically saying that police officers are afraid to do their jobs with absolutely no proof.”