The End of Policing

Description

How the police endanger us and why we need to find an alternative Recent

years have seen an explosion of protest and concern about police brutality

and repression–especially after long-held grievances in Ferguson,

Missouri, erupted in months of violent protest following the police killing

of Brown. Much of the conversation has focused on calls for enhancing

police accountability, increasing police diversity, improving police

training, and emphasizing community policing. Unfortunately, none of these

is likely to produce results, because they fail to get at the core of the

problem. The problem is policing itself–the dramatic expansion of the

police role over the last forty years. This book attempts to jog public

discussion of policing by revealing the tainted origins of modern policing

as a tool of social control and demonstrating how the expanded role of the

police is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice–even

public safety. Drawing on first-hand research from across the globe, Alex

Vitale shows how the implementation of alternatives to policing, like drug

legalization, regulation, and harm reduction instead of the policing of

drugs, has led to reductions in crime, spending, and injustice.