Ferguson effect by the bay

Four supervisors had jumped onto that bandwagon, but Suhr enjoyed Mayor Ed Lee’s support.

[...] Thursday, that is, when a San Francisco cop shot and killed Jessica Williams, 29, an unarmed auto theft, suspect near the Bayview.

In 2014, a white police officer from Ferguson, Mo., shot and killed an unarmed black man and spawned Black Lives Matter protests.

In law enforcement circles, there has been a debate as to whether the nation is experiencing a “Ferguson effect” — that is, if cops are backing off because they fear reprisals for doing their jobs.

Suhr’s troubles really began on with a video of San Francisco cops shooting Mario Woods, a 26-year-old black man who would not surrender his knife on Dec. 2.

Before the advent of cell phone cameras, those decisions probably looked smarter than they look in a fuzzy few seconds captured on the phone of a new-to-the-scene bystander.

After Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, the U.S. Department of Justice waged an investigation that many expected to enable the feds to prosecute the cop.

Instead the evidence revealed that Brown had reached for Wilson’s gun, and the investigation discredited a witness account of a blameless Brown being shot in the back.