The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
Title: The End of Policing
Author: Alex S. Vitale
Published: 2017
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 228
Modern policing is largely a war on the poor that does little to make people safer or communities stronger, and even when it does, this is accomplished through the most coercive forms of state power that destroy the lives of millions. Instead of asking the police to solve our problems we must organize for real justice. We need to produce a society designed to meet people’s human needs, rather than wallow in the pursuit of wealth at the expense of all else.
In Brief:
A thorough, very accessible and informative introduction to its titular subject. The repetitive structure made it a bit tedious to get through towards the end, but still a compelling and well-argued book.
Rating: 4.2
Synopsis:
In The End of Policing, Alex Vitale (Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College) argues that reforms that are often suggested to improve policing will inevitably fall short – the problem is policing itself. Going back into history, Vitale makes the case that modern policing in the US is rooted in social control rather than public safety, and its problems are too deeply entrenched to be solved by reform. Specifically, he delves into the “Bobbies” established in Britain to control low-class “rabble” (particularly in rebellious rural Ireland), Texas rangers who hunted down native populations that threatened white colonialists, and slave patrols in the South. He also points out the vast majority of police’s time is spent on bureaucratic work and patrol, not dramatic crime control or investigations you might see on tv.
Vitale goes on to detail the dramatic expansion of the police in recent decades, now dealing with schools, homelessness, drug use, sex work, border crossings, mental illness etcetera. He points out that it isn’t a given or even logical for these to be areas for police to be involved in. Chapter by chapter, Vitale breaks down the issues and addresses why suggested reforms aren’t enough. He gives examples and concrete suggestions for what steps should be taken – be it as simple as removing police from schools or ambitious (yet still practical!) as replacing them with civilian responders who are actually trained to deal with mental health crises.
Ultimately, Vitale makes the case that we can redirect money from the police and move it to social services such as housing and jobs, addressing and alleviating extreme poverty, particularly in segregated neighborhoods, that creates the condition for crimes in the first place.
Where I’m At:
So I don’t really need to explain why we (Non-Fiction Book Club) picked up this book, right? Why now? You get it. You can turn on the news. You can remember back a couple of weeks.
Obviously these times had a strong effect on my reading of the book. I do wonder how I would have reacted to it before June. Even as someone who considers herself pretty progressive, I hadn’t seriously given police or prison abolition (stay tuned – next post) serious consideration until recent weeks. As Tim half-joked, we were pre-radicalized by Instagram. I don’t mean that in a pejorative way, either – say what you will about social media, but it is an effective way to spread awareness and activism.
But reading through captions or watching short videos isn’t enough, so I’m glad I read this book. It gave me serious research, data, and anecdotes, to really help inform my opinion, to avoid latching onto a belief just because it’s the socially acceptable thing to do within my liberal bubble.
I also want to acknowledge that I have several family members, as well as family friends, who are police officers. People who I know and love. Reading this book doesn’t change that, nor does considering its proposals or acknowledging the problems in the institution. My dad was also a firefighter, and even though they are very different, there’s a lot of solidarity in those communities. Mixing personal relationships and politics get messy, and I’m still trying to work that out, learn when and how to have conversations that remain open and loving.
Last factor – the organization that I work for prioritizes Criminal Justice Reform as one of our cause areas. As a plug, here are some recommendations from our CJR program officer if you’re interested and/or able to donate to high-impact organizations yourself.
Getting Into it:
Like with The Fire Next Time, I don’t feel at all equipped to critique the arguments in this book. I’m not an expert at all in the CJR field, and again, I’m here to learn, maybe help others learn with me by sharing these resources and my impressions.
Overall – I absolutely recommend this book as an introduction to its topic. It’s very straightforward, written in a clear, easily comprehensible style. It gives fascinating and important background, chooses enlightening and impactful anecdotes. It doesn’t do that annoying thing where it just lays out all the problems then shrugs a solution – whether or not you agree with them, there are clear alternatives.
I will say that the format got a bit repetitive and predictable – here’s a problem, here are reforms that don’t work, here’s what we should do instead – which resulted in my sometimes skimming through sections that I’d then have to make myself go back and read more carefully. I also sometimes thought that it was spread a bit too thin and each chapter could easily have been its own book, but that sort of goes with it being an introduction/survey of sorts. I think if one read it more slowly than my pretty aggressive pacing, these wouldn’t really be issues.
My most substantive issue, or area that I want to educate myself more about, is that if police are abolished, what would we do to address violent crime? I understand that’s often sort of dismissed as a “Republican talking point” and that the assumption is that the money that could go towards social services would create a world in which the conditions that cause violent crime would be greatly reduced – but that all still feels a bit hand-wave-y to me. I’ve read studies that seem to indicate that increased police presence reduces violent crime. I’ve also read studies that seem to indicate the opposite. Vitale didn’t really dive into this, so if anyone out there has recommendations for where I could learn more, that would be appreciated.
Something that seems missing in these conversations that irks me, is the lack of tie-in to gun control. I have no qualms about saying that America’s gun problem is ridiculous. At least to me, it stands to reason that if we could reduce the number of guns, we could also reduce violent crime, and reduce the need for police to have weapons, or reduce the need for police at all. But I haven’t really seen much that addresses this – so again, if someone has recommendations for where I can learn, I’m all ears.
One last point – it stands out to me that a lot of the issues that criminal justice reformers have about the police, police also seem to have about the police. Ie, that they’re being asked to do too much, to do things they aren’t trained to do. This overlap seems obvious to me (again, as a not-very-educated person on the topic) and I don’t understand why there can’t be common ground on that space. Everyone seems to agree, for instance, that police should not be responding to mental health emergencies when they are not trained for that. So… why don’t we find an alternative? I understand that it’s not that straightforward, but the pacifist/idealist in me just wishes that we could start with an agreeable conversation.
That’s all for now. If you’re interested in the topic (you should be), read this book. For an alternative perspective, also read this article (especially the second footnote). And, one last time – if you have any suggestions to help me continue learning, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
