The Chicago Reader Guide to Police Abolition

May 30, 2020 5:33 PM

Maya Dukmasova has been writing about police abolitionist community organizing since 2016: "It’s easy to dismiss prison and police abolition as unrealistic and out of touch, but if one is seriously interested in figuring out how to keep communities safe while reducing violence and other crime, abolitionists offer a plethora of practical ideas. As many of them have pointed out to me over the years, prisons and police don’t do anything to make many neighborhoods safer and more stable, so here are some stories about other ways we could be using our time and resources."

Abolish the police? Organizers say it’s less crazy than it sounds:

Workshop explores alternatives to calling cops during mental health crises

Community gardens beautify urban space, but some seek to transform urban society

Is it time to reimagine justice and accountability for sexual misconduct?

Are there alternatives to calling 911?

Mariame Kaba, modern abolitionist, on feminism that fights state violence

This black collective trains bystanders to give first aid to shooting victims

Strength on the street: Masked activists take on social services titan Heartland Alliance over facilities for migrant children

Lit recs to dismantle violence, both the personal and systemic

[Previously]

posted by Ouverture (43 comments total)

Violence in Blue:

Americans are afraid of many threats to their lives – serial killers, crazed gunmen, gang bangers, and above all terrorists – but these threats are surprisingly unlikely.[1] Approximately three-quarters of all homicide victims in America are killed by someone they know.[2] And the real threat from strangers is quite different from what most fear: one-third of all Americans killed by strangers are killed by police.

This is the story of the hidden numbers of police homicides in the United States. The killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Walter Scott have increased the world’s attention to US police violence, yet most Americans underestimate the threat posed by the people charged with keeping them safe.

posted by Ouverture at 6:07 PM on May 30, 2020 [24 favorites]

The first and second links seem to go to the same place.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:33 PM on May 30, 2020

The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale ebook is free today only.
posted by dobbs at 6:58 PM on May 30, 2020 [9 favorites]

Creative Interventions Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence is another resource for alternatives to police intervention
posted by eviemath at 7:17 PM on May 30, 2020 [4 favorites]

Reform vs Abolition: an analysis of measures to reform police forces, and whether they serve to increase or decrease police influence in our lives.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 8:24 AM on May 31, 2020 [1 favorite]

Americans are afraid of many threats to their lives...

This is the flaw in this particular discussion....western capitalists use police to protect property as much , if not more, than lives. Aren't we seeing this all over the US right now? If we protected lives we'd have curfew patrols for Covid19, but those cops right now are out there to protect Target and Wells Fargo and Auto-Zone. And the moment you suggest to Suburbia that the cops won't be there to patrol their neighborhood and keep the undesirables out of their back yards your movement is finished.

I'm reading my way through this, and it's heartbreaking, and infuriating, but not really surprising. So far, I'm still inclined to fall on the side of disarming the police. My view is that if they really did start to fear for their safety, there'd be less deadly confrontation all around. I wish the constitutional fundamentalists in this country (the US) could see that the militarized police we have now is exactly the opposite to what the founders would have allowed.
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:09 AM on May 31, 2020 [14 favorites]

So are individuals supposed to investigate their own crimes if they are a victim?
posted by MrBobaFett at 12:44 PM on May 31, 2020

So are individuals supposed to investigate their own crimes if they are a victim?

They might as well--the cops aren't doing it, anyway. Only a small minority of property crimes are solved, and even for something like murder the clearance rate is barely 50/50. Real cops aren't like TV cops.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 12:49 PM on May 31, 2020 [14 favorites]

I mean I don't expect all state-institutions to be 100% perfect to justify their existence. Investigation of crime is difficult, I would hope that most people realize that. It doesn't mean we shouldn't investigate crimes or enforce laws.
posted by MrBobaFett at 1:04 PM on May 31, 2020

So are individuals supposed to investigate their own crimes if they are a victim?


They might as well--the cops aren't doing it, anyway. Only a small minority of property crimes are solved, and even for something like murder the clearance rate is barely 50/50. Real cops aren't like TV cops.

Lots of people believe cops are like TV cops, for better and worse.

e.g. If people believed cops were genuinely useless at investigating/solving crimes, I have no doubt there would be much more crime. The mere thought of police involvement acts as a control element - again, for better and worse...... something that's been written about in many literatures, including abolitionism.
posted by lalochezia at 1:06 PM on May 31, 2020 [1 favorite]

So are individuals supposed to investigate their own crimes if they are a victim?

As it happens, some of the links in the original post address and answer this question. Surprisingly, I know, but it turns out this is not a new concern or "gotcha" to the idea of prison or police abolition.
posted by eviemath at 1:19 PM on May 31, 2020 [19 favorites]

So the perception of police is as effective as the reality of police. Need more hologram police, hologram bullets?

Apparently a picture of an officer reduces bike theft, I've certainly had a slight double take walking past this bike cage catching him from the corner of the eye.
posted by sammyo at 1:25 PM on May 31, 2020 [1 favorite]

Mod note: added the correct "Abolish the police" link to the post.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:40 PM on May 31, 2020

Having a genuine question isn't a gotcha. I scanned the posts but didn't see an answer to how we move forward without law enforcement. Which section should I read?
posted by MrBobaFett at 2:41 PM on May 31, 2020

I genuinely don’t understand what is supposed to happen if, say, someone in my neighborhood abducts and murders my child. Is it up to me to find the killer and execute him? Or would I have to hire someone to do it for me?

“The police don’t do a good job anyway” is not an answer to my question.
posted by argybarg at 3:04 PM on May 31, 2020 [3 favorites]

I have not read all of the links, but appreciate that communities who want peace, especially if they have minimal resources, do not rely on the police as “peacekeepers”, they rely on each other, especially when government- and lawyer-based options are problematic because they don’t quite grok what day-to-day life is about. Sometimes knowing that you’ve had a deep and uncomfortable personal conversation with neighbors about what is important to all of you can guide Future decisions to reduce issues that challenge the safety of the community. It’s one thing to see a hologram of a police officer, and another to know that you might see your neighbor, who was part of that exchange, and you know better as a result, when you walk down the block.

Some processes that harmonize with the articles are community mediation, restorative justice, Samoan circles, and more. These processes work with participants who understand that improvement can be relational, consequently they would not be a first choice for something that requires forensic investigation like a serial killer.
posted by childofTethys at 3:21 PM on May 31, 2020 [5 favorites]

how we move forward without law enforcement

It's very telling that, with a wide roundup on the topic, there's still a recurring conflation of policing and law enforcement. Removing policing as it's currently understood and practiced isn't necessarily a call for a state of anarchy. (Not to erase anarchists either though, they also have more nuanced thoughts they've worked through)

I don't want to reiterate better words from people who've spent better time on choosing those words; but I would say if you're reading through this to try and separate the two concepts in your mind. Conflating them only helps reinforce the status quo.
posted by CrystalDave at 3:47 PM on May 31, 2020 [12 favorites]

The thing is, the police is the name of the branch of government that does law enforcement and investigation. So when you say abolish the police, I hear abolish law enforcement and investigation. Which is why I say restructure or reform the police because I believe the government should enforce laws and investigate crimes.
posted by MrBobaFett at 4:49 PM on May 31, 2020

Another good piece: Opinion | The Police Killed George Floyd. Redirect Their Funding Elsewhere. - The New York Times
posted by spbmp at 5:02 PM on May 31, 2020 [1 favorite]

even for something like murder the clearance rate is barely 50/50

In Chicago the clearance rate was about 25% for the past decade. Last year they supposedly hit 53% (they can close previous years and count them in the FBI numbers) but their own website said only 21% of murders that year resulted in an arrest. Some of those are the ones who pretty much turn themselves in either because of guilt or because they are so dumb they post about in social media or something. Additionally, the clearance rate includes cases that are closed without a murder conviction/arrest.

Frankly, the police in Chicago largely do not solve crimes.

After the Laquan McDonald execution video came out they pretty much quit doing their job and instead did a severe unstated work to rule protest ....and nothing much really changed.
posted by srboisvert at 5:32 PM on May 31, 2020 [6 favorites]

I've lived places where there were no police and this is a fantasy. When there are no police a few families take over all the resources and run roughshod over everyone else. Young women suffer the most, followed by poor young men but at least they get raped less I guess. Then every other resident gets fucked too because without police there is massive corruption and no water or schools or medical care or transportation. Just a few rich families and some psychopathic all-male gangs and a mass of people in abject poverty with no right of redress.

Without justice there is no society and benevolent self government has NEVER worked well for the majority of the populace. Ever. There is a reason young women leave villages every place in the world and move to cities.

Police forces need to be diverse, well run, answerable and respected. That might seem like a fantasy too but its more realisitic than humans suddenly developing local self government that is fair to all.
posted by fshgrl at 8:00 PM on May 31, 2020 [12 favorites]

And a few blocks from what was/seemed a very peaceful self moderated protest in Boston.
posted by sammyo at 9:34 PM on May 31, 2020

The issue, as I see it, is that policing culture is fundamentally rotten and incredibly resistant to change. Many functions currently provided by the police are valuable and can be done better by organizations which are not the police.

The problem is that the police are given the legal authority to inflict violence, and we've aggregated more and more funding and responsibilities to them while cutting funding from social services and the safety net. What we need is to move funding and responsibilities away from the people with guns, who think that anything they say needs to be obeyed immediately and without questioning, just because they said it.

Fundamentally we are a society more interested in punishing criminality than we are in fixing the conditions that produce it.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:41 AM on June 1, 2020 [9 favorites]

You could just take their guns away. Most European police do just fine with no guns day to day. Have special armed officers for when you need them.
posted by fshgrl at 1:40 AM on June 1, 2020 [7 favorites]

The original principles of policing were chosen to distinguish officers from armed guards, army soldiers, and other civil servants such as postmen (who were also armed for a long time, as they carried money around the country). The idea was to hire citizens of the areas they policed, and put them in official uniforms, and let them travel around and interact with the communities they were in charge of.

Their primary mandate was to "keep the Queen's peace". Sometimes this meant getting to know local offenders and guiding their criminal activity to constrained boxes so that larger conflicts would not erupt.

But the power dynamic has shifted, and now it is an armed paramilitary force that considers the people its enemy. That is what must be abolished.

Perhaps we could return to an earlier model, but more likely newer models of safety and investigation and enforcement of laws are needed. There are vast schools of thought on this.

But they all require abolishing the current system.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 6:17 AM on June 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

You could just take their guns away. Most European police do just fine with no guns day to day. Have special armed officers for when you need them.

And this should go hand in hand with comprehensive gun control laws. On the whole, almost nobody needs a gun in this country. Fewer guns in the hands of police, plus fewer guns in private hands equals a lot fewer people getting shot.
posted by mrgoat at 7:07 AM on June 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

For me, it helps to distinguish the many different day to day functions of the police from our current police organizations in the US.

Police departments supposedly provide a lot of functions, including traffic regulation; guarding key locations owned by the community; dealing with low level everyday violence; investigating incredibly rare and highly violent crimes; investigating non-violent crimes; and responding to emergency calls, often as a catch-all when it’s some emergency that doesn’t neatly fall into fire or paramedic territory.

Apart from being loosely “law enforcement”, there’s no reason these functions all need to be done by the same group of people. Our current police forces do a lot of these badly. Certainly many of those functions would do better with people with more specialized training, such as social workers, trained investigators, dedicated guards, and so on.

Very few of these functions need to be done by someone armed with a deadly weapon. But they are, because we give all these jobs to a single group of people with guns.

Meanwhile, our current police organizations are demonstrably racist, violent, and have a large number of active white supremacists in their ranks. They are poorly trained, armed, combative, and organized in a way that primarily benefits themselves. Even if they were accomplishing their supposed goals (which they’re not), it would be worth replacing those organizations from the ground up.

I don’t personally think we’re going to eliminate the need for any kind of law enforcement. I do think we can split that function up, train it better, reduce its power in politics, and disarm it in almost all situations.

To the extent we still need armed first responders — which I think we probably will — I think it can be a very small group, with heavy training and tight oversight, called in only for rare cases.
posted by a device for making your enemy change his mind at 7:40 AM on June 1, 2020 [17 favorites]

I am going to read through all of these links and try my hardest to let go of my preconceptions and take in some good ideas. For one, the idea of allocating resources to community building that will reduce crime as opposed to policing that will punish it seems self-evidently logical. So I see value in these ideas, even as some of them I may to do some catching up on.

That said, 2020 has ground me down. And it's the same parts of society grinding me down,
asshole rich people and angry white men with guns. And when I ask myself what would happen if we stopped policing as we know it, it seems like the billionaire class would be the most uncomfortable with this, the same people who want to privatize everything. And you're kidding yourself if you don't think they would. And right there with them will be a large subset of angry, white, armed males who would love to take up that mantle. And that's on top of privatized cops likely drawing their ranks primarily from previous civic police forces.

There is not a thing about privatized cops with limited to no public oversight that sounds better to me than trying to reform police forces as we know them.

Blackwater Cops. Think about that.

Maybe this sounds like a paranoid worst case scenario. But chrissakes, aren't lots of those actually happening now?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:18 AM on June 1, 2020 [3 favorites]

without police there is massive corruption and no water or schools or medical care or transportation

Wow. Citation, please? This particular defense of policing is weird to me.
posted by el gran combo at 9:24 AM on June 1, 2020 [4 favorites]

That already happens and has been happening for ages. It's just we have publicly-funded fascists operating on top of the private security forces.
posted by tobascodagama at 9:24 AM on June 1, 2020

You could just take their guns away. Most European police do just fine with no guns day to day. Have special armed officers for when you need them.

They do better but they don't do 'just fine'. In the UK a special gun squad executed a man on the underground for the crime of having a backpack and then there was a concerted cover up effort to try and pretend he was a bad man who had it coming.

Give someone authority and a gun and you've created a monster. You might think it is your monster and a monster you can control but really it is just a monster and monsters gonna monster.
posted by srboisvert at 9:42 AM on June 1, 2020 [5 favorites]

Mod note: Comment removed - having a conversation with members of this thread is fine.Demanding they scenario-plan with you about how a no-cops future works in your neighborhood, less fine.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:54 AM on June 1, 2020 [4 favorites]

without police there is massive corruption and no water or schools or medical care or transportation

Wow. Citation, please? This particular defense of policing is weird to me.

Human history? Every place in the world with no stable police force? Look around you, the whole world is not suburban america and there are plenty of examples of places with no functuoning police. Look at the murders of indigenous people in the Amazon, look at favelas or how mob run Sicily functioned just a few decades ago. Look at refugee camps. Look ay parts of the US with inadequate or corrupt police. Without redress, without justice there is no peace and no chance for prosperity.

Even the protestors in the US right now are turning looters over to the police. So protestors in the heat of protest are perfectly capable of demanding reform while still wanting the police to do their actual job.
posted by fshgrl at 12:33 PM on June 1, 2020

Every place in the world with no stable police force?

A horribly unjust or absent police force is a symptom and an accelerant, but not a cause of the problems you're talking about. What about systemic racism and misogyny, unregulated capitalism and imperialist war? Is the real problem with refugee camps lack of policing? I'm not against every manner of law enforcement, but I'll take a hard pass on this line of reasoning; I'm concerned that you're conflating causes and effects to make a point.


Look around you, the whole world is not suburban america

Please excuse me. You don't appear to know where I live.
posted by el gran combo at 1:14 PM on June 1, 2020 [10 favorites]

In a world with those flaws and forces competing to fill any power vacuum, does a society without police work? I think systemic misogyny is going to be with us for a while.
posted by Selena777 at 4:41 PM on June 1, 2020

You could just take their guns away. Most European police do just fine with no guns day to day. Have special armed officers for when you need them.

This is false. The vast majority of police within Europe (however you want to define that) are armed. The British Isles (ex-NI) are an outlier in this respect, which may have mislead you.
posted by kickingtheground at 7:41 PM on June 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

You could just take their guns away. Most European police do just fine with no guns day to day. Have special armed officers for when you need them.

They do better but they don't do 'just fine'. In the UK a special gun squad executed a man on the underground for the crime of having a backpack and then there was a concerted cover up effort to try and pretend he was a bad man who had it coming.

Hard agree. We do have fewer deaths by police shooting in the UK, and at least part of the reason is going to be because fewer police are armed with guns. I really, really like this non-armed police feature of my country but I think of it as a good place to start the work of dismantling institutional racism within British police forces, rather than the solution to it.
posted by plonkee at 4:22 AM on June 2, 2020 [4 favorites]

This feels like discussing ideas for iceberg aversion while the ship is at a 45 degree angle. I'm trying to read and learn and be helpful, but we're so late. Fuck it, do the work anyway.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:34 AM on June 2, 2020 [3 favorites]

Look at the murders of indigenous people in the Amazon, look at favelas

Where the cops and state sanctioned entities are doing the killing?
posted by Ahmad Khani at 10:47 AM on June 2, 2020 [10 favorites]

Dismantle the Department of Homeland Security - "The case for abolishing the wasteful, incompetent, and abusive mega-agency has become especially urgent under Trump."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:23 AM on June 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

I finished the reading. I'm fully aboard now. It will be interesting watching Minneapolis try this.

I remain wary about the combination of rich assholes who benefit from policing and armed assholes ready to volunteer to shoot things and the accompanying risk of privatized police forces.

But reform no longer seems like even a plausible option.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:32 PM on June 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

(I finished the reading in this article. I'll be reading about this the rest of my life.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:55 PM on June 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

The Minneapolis council just pledged to abolish the MPD. This is historic.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:53 PM on June 7, 2020 [1 favorite]