Good point. I don’t think this is the likely correlation, but I think that whatever is causing more murders is also causing fewer stops.

The author suggests it’s fewer police out and about policing. It might be that.

This is a really card situation to prove causation since it’s retrospective observational. But maybe more researchers can try to isolate variables and find controls, etc.

For me, it’s trying to find a reasonable story so I can stop wondering. I imagine that police waking and driving around arresting people doesn’t stop murders, but fewer police being around doing stuff might result in more violence.