The end of policing

Alex S. Vitale

Book - 2017

"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"--

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Subjects
Published
London; Brooklyn, NY : Verso 2017.
Language
English
Main Author
Alex S. Vitale (author)
Physical Description
266 pages ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781784782894
  • 1. The Limits of Police Reform
  • 2. The Police Are Not Here to Protect You
  • 3. The School-to-Prison Pipeline
  • 4. "We Called for Help, and They Killed My Son"
  • 5. Criminalizing Homelessness
  • 6. The Failures of Policing Sex Work
  • 7. The War on Drugs
  • 8. Gang Suppression
  • 9. Border Policing
  • 10. Political Policing
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Further Reading
  • Index
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Why better training of police officers is inadequate to reduce strained relations between law enforcement and minority or impoverished communities and why it is necessary to completely rethink the role of police in America.In a tightly constructed monograph filled with reform suggestions, Vitale (Sociology/Brooklyn Coll.; City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics, 2008, etc.) decries the evolution of police agencies as tools of the white establishment to suppress dissatisfaction among the have-nots. The author understands the role of police in trying to solve violent crimes such as rapes and homicides, but he believes police should no longer serve as the chief combatants against narcotics use, street gangs, border patrol, prostitution between consenting adults, homelessness, mental illness, and misbehaving adolescents. Instead, Vitale suggests either decriminalization of certain behaviors or non-law enforcement solutions, such as government agencies and private organizations that could, for example, work with the homeless to provide them with permanent shelter. The author explains how, during Prohibition, a heavy-handed law enforcement approach to alcohol use and the outlawing of gambling led to counterproductive outcomes. As police agencies arrested alcohol sellers and purchasers, organized crime thrived, numerous police officers accepted graft, and violence involving sales increasedand yet the availability of illegal alcohol remained steady. Vitale realizes that none of the reforms he offers would eliminate violent crime. A reduction is quite likely, however, if governments and philanthropic entities make concerted efforts to reach out to troubled neighborhoods to provide improved education, creation of local businesses, meaningful job training, and actual jobs that pay above minimum wage. Whether society's wealthy or police themselves are willing to back down from the warrior mentality is debatable, but Vitale maintains that a complete reset of the role law enforcement agencies play in rural and urban areas would be beneficial and is worth an attempt. A clearly argued, sure-to-be-controversial book. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.