Abolition

Video: 5-min explanation of reform, defund, and abolition

At first glance, police abolition seems like an insane solution to police brutality. If you get rid of cops, what's to stop society from devolving into chaos? We've always needed police and always will, and if not police, who are you gonna call next time there's an emergency?

These are all quite reasonable reactions, but they also usually come from a mischaracterization of what police abolition would entail.

First, consider what the aim of policing is. Many say to keep order, or to prevent crime. But cops don't actually prevent crime, they respond to it, in most cases well after the incident has occurred. And even then, the vast majority of crimes go unsolved, only about 46% of violent crimes and 19% of property crimes (Pew Research Center).

Like treating the symptoms of a disease, investigating and pursuing justice is absolutely necessary, but doing so won't solve the underlying issue, the factors that drive people to crime in the first place. Which are overwhelmingly: mental illness, disconnection from society, and most of all, poverty (PBS). If you want people to stop doing crime, you have to remove the need to commit crimes, which can be done through taking some funds of policing and investing in education, public health measures, affordable housing and healthcare, community and after school programs, and better salaries for the working class. This tactic of defunding the police has worked before! Camden, New Jersey had immense success, lowered rates of both crime and police brutality after defunding their police force a few years ago.

It's also important to note we haven't always had policing like we do now. Prior to the end of the civil war and the emancipation of black people in the US, we had night watch men for anything pressing, and the court system was set up to handle all other disputes. But even after black people gained freedom, discrimination was still perfectly legal, and it was near impossible to find work or housing, as all of that was controlled by rich, white land owners unwilling to employ or rent to people of color. This created mass poverty and homelessness, and in response, the US created the police from ex-slave catching patrols, the very first state prison systems, and criminalized poverty, acts like being homeless, loitering, not having a job, which were then near solely enforced against black people in order to incarcerate them, and 'solve the issue of crime'. Ever so coincidentally, prison became a place where inmates were considered property of the state, and forced to work for state profit, just as they are today, since the 13th amendment prohibits slavery 'except in the case of imprisonment'. This all continues to this day, but more on that in the prison industrial complex section.

Police abolition work is not about snapping our fingers and instantly defunding every department in the world. Rather, we’re talking about a process of strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention.

The people who respond to crises in our community should be the people who are best-equipped to deal with those crises. Rather than strangers armed with guns, who very likely do not live in the neighborhoods they’re patrolling, we want to create space for more mental health service providers, violence prevention specialists, social workers, victim/survivor advocates, elders and spiritual leaders, neighbors and friends—all of the people who really make up the fabric of a community—to look out for one another. For some real-world models of what this can look like, check out the “abolition in practice” section on our Resources page.

Simply put, even if police were perfectly unbiased and never made a mistake, the act of policing itself would still be inefficient. What is the goal of policing? Most say to keep order, reduce crime. But police only respond to crime, they can't prevent the causes of it, poverty, mental illness, etc.

These are social issues that police can only respond to with punishment, tickets, arrests, prison. And because of this police are forced to do unthinkable things: throw mothers with children out on the street because she's late on rent and the landlord wants her gone, shoot rubber bullets at protesters because the state orders them too, throw away homeless people's tents and survival gear because the city said it was an eyesore, the list goes on and on. The only way to stop having police do unethical things is to actually address the cause of the issue, not just the symptoms.

By diverting money with give to police for settlements (taxpayers paying to bail out cops who break the law) we can open homeless shelters and job connections. By defunding line items like grenade launchers and military vehicles we can build affordable housing and invest in green energy, creating sustainable jobs. By removing cops from inner city schools we can pay for therapists for kids affected by gang violence or undiagnosed disabilities, preventing the cycle of crime. The list goes on and on!

List of Things Wrong with Police

1. Police Bank Millions Through Their Union Contracts