Posted on by Jordan

Abolish the Police: A Journey

Introduction

What follows is a (by no means comprehensive) collection of accessible online sources related to police abolition. My hope is that this can be used as a tool for self-education, or as a convenient resource for those engaging with an unconvinced interlocutor. To accommodate both audiences, I’ve tried to categorize these sources by related topics, and organize them in a sort of progressive order from least controversial (the protests are good actually) to most controversial (there should be no cops). I’ve also tried to keep this focused, so there are broader/related issues that some of the sources touch on that I won’t really be talking about. The last section will point in a few directions to go from here, though.

(NB: Links here should not be construed as wholesale endorsements of those persons or organizations, only the specific content I’m linking to. Except the YouTube links, I’m cool with all of those creators and you should check out their other stuff.)

The Protests

LESSON 1: Riots by citizens are a valid, effective means of producing social change.

“What is gained…?” by KAR

LESSON 2: Riots by cops are state violence and a gross abuse of power (and most of the violence at these protests is in fact being instigated by cops).

“How to Cover These Police Riots” by Some More News

LESSON 3: Demanding peaceful protests is demanding people willingly make themselves the victims of state violence.

“CO-VIDS: the gandhi trap” by Innuendo Studios

LESSON 4: Property is not more valuable than human lives.

“In Defense of Property Damage” by KAR

I suspect most people won’t have too much difficulty accepting these points in the abstract, so it might be good to hold these in your mind the next time you’re reading a news report about protests or “riots,” and notice whether and when you start to try to rationalize why, in this specific instance, the protestors are “going too far.” The arguments above are not intended to apply merely in principle, but in practice. Be sure you’re okay with that before moving on.

Police Reform

So, cops. Let’s accept for the sake of argument that there is some problem with police. What it might it be? Well, to start with, maybe cops shouldn’t have guns.

“Good guy with a gun…” by KAR
“How Cops Are Trained To Shoot You In Your Home” by Some More News

So let’s say we’ve gotten rid of the guns. Yay! Well, it seems like maybe we haven’t solved the problem, because cops are still beating people up, gassing them, kneeling on their necks for almost nine minutes while they repeatedly make the cops aware that they can’t breathe, etc., and largely getting away with it. Have we tried just replacing the bad cops with good cops?

Good cops

You can also hear about Adrian Schoolcraft on This American Life. And, while we’re on audio, Reply All has a great two-parter on how a cop tried to actually lower crime but then the cops were just more efficiently racist.

Speaking of, Reveal did a pretty thorough investigation of the police’s relationship to various hate groups, including ones with a documented history of domestic terrorism, which is, you know, a crime.

Why Even Are Cops

So, that didn’t work. It seems that maybe individual cops are not the solution, and the problem may be more systemic in nature. But what could be wrong with a system that’s supposed to “Protect and Serve”? Well, mostly the part where it’s not actually that.

Like not even a little bit.

Here’s a question: why is it a crime when normal people do murder, but not when cops do it?

“Crime and Legitimacy” by Thought Slime
An illustration of the relationship between cops and capitalism

Oh good, you’re still here. That was maybe a big jump into radical leftist politics, but the salient point here is that police serve the interests of those in power, and enforce those interests with state-sanctioned violence. They are a tool for suppression, not a tool for justice or social good.

Also, if you’re interested in a more historical perspective, check out the “Behind the Police” miniseries from the Behind the Bastards podcast. Episode 1: “Slavery, Mass Murder, and the Birth of American Policing”

Strategies and Alternatives

I’ll be honest, I don’t necessarily expect you to be convinced by that last section. But for a lot of people who don’t really interact with police on a regular basis, the issue of whether the police are systemically flawed doesn’t actually matter on more than an intellectual level to them. The real sticking point for most people isn’t the why, but the how and the what (to have instead).

Here’s some jacked dudes explaining how “defunding” or “abolishing” the police doesn’t mean just getting rid of them all at once and moving on:

A very strong argument

Or, if that much muscle is too intimidating, here’s a lot of the same words plus some more:

A less shirtless argument

That one mentions the organization MPD150, and if you’ve gotten this far and are feeling like you want to read more but are sick of my snarky tone and Facebook links, check out their article “What are we talking about when we talk about ‘a police-free future?'” for an alternative approach.

Here’s a handy comic that gives a pretty good overview of possible alternative solutions to issues police are supposedly intended to solve:

I bet there’s at least one stat in there that’s very surprising

And if you want sources for a lot of this, here’s a thread about evidence-based solutions to police violence:

So much research

If you’ve read this far, I hope you’ve learned at least one thing along the way. And hopefully that thing is that the police are a systemically flawed institution that can and should be dismantled and replaced with systems and organizations that actually address the root causes of social issues rather than just violently treating the symptoms. And also maybe that capitalism sucks.

So You Want to Be an Ally

If you’ve noticed that maybe this whole police thing is related to a bunch of other stuff that you want to learn more about, and maybe even do something about, here are some things to check out before you just show up in social justice (especially anti-racist) spaces and expect to be welcomed with open arms. And keep in mind these are really just a starting point.

So You Want to Be a Comrade

Oh hey, did you also notice there was a lot of talk in there about capitalism and how it sucks? Want to hear more about that in a fun, approachable manner? Here are some YouTube channels.

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