The End of Policing

About this book

How the police endanger us and why we need to find an alternative Recent years have seen an explosion of protest against police brutality and repressionmost dramatically in Ferguson Missouri where longheld grievances erupted in violent demonstrations following the police killing of Michael Brown. Among activists journalists and politicians the conversation about how to respond and improve policing has focused on accountability diversity training and community relations. Unfortunately these reforms will not produce results either alone or in combination. The core of the problem must be addressed: the nature of modern policing itself. Broken windows practices the militarization of law enforcement and the dramatic expansion of the polices role over the last forty years have created a mandate for officers that must be rolled back. This book attempts to spark public discussion by revealing the tainted origins of modern policing as a tool of social control. It shows how the expansion of police authority is inconsistent with community empowerment social justiceeven public safety. Drawing on groundbreaking research from across the world and covering virtually every area in the increasingly broad range of police work Alex Vitale demonstrates how law enforcement has come to exacerbate the very problems it is supposed to solve. In contrast there are places where the robust implementation of policing alternativessuch as legalization restorative justice and harm reductionhas led to reductions in crime spending and injustice. The best solution to bad policing may be an end to policing.