Let’s Cancel the Police

Abolishing the police – or at least its essential protection to the point that they constitute only a minimal presence in our communities – may seem like a radical and far-fetched solution to the problem of systemic police violence. Who would you call if someone stole your car or broke into your house? What if you were the victim of a violent crime such as rape or sexual assault?

A radical solution is exactly what we need right now.

As Alex Vitale, a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College and author of The End of the Police, said in a recent interview with Mother Jones :

In fact, many people simply do not call the police because they feel it will only make their life worse. This is a profound truth. And so we don’t just want to leave them alone, we want to try to fix their problems.

There are smarter ways to solve our problems

Many of the problems faced by the police, such as mental health crises or homelessness, could be better addressed through a combination of social services and community organizations. Meanwhile, many people, including minorities and victims of domestic violence or sexual assault, are reluctant to contact the police for help . It matters how we spend our money, and for every dollar we spend on a heavily militarized police force where officers are rarely held accountable for their acts of violence, that’s one dollar less to spend on programs that offer significant help.

We spend twice as much on prisons, police and courts as on social programs to help those in need at all levels of government. We also put people in jails at a rate five times higher than in other countries , at $ 31,286 per prisoner per year . By comparison, we spend $ 12,201 a year on teaching elementary and middle school students .

Instead of spending our limited money on an extensive police force, it would be wiser and more efficient to invest in social services and community organizations than in a heavily militarized police force.

Social services and community organizations are often more effective

When it comes to the many problems that the police respond to, the best solution does not touch them at all – it is to find the right services that can solve the underlying problem.

For example, if the disruption occurs because someone is in a mental health emergency, the problem is best addressed with the help of a social worker and comprehensive mental health services. Our current approach – reaching out to the police to solve the problem – means people with mental illness are 16 times more likely to be shot by law enforcement . Several cities are already making changes in this area: in Portland, Oregon, a new program called Portland Street Response is directing first aiders, trained in behavioral health, rather than police officers, to answer emergency calls related to homelessness or mental health crises.

What if your car is stolen and the culprit is caught and it turns out that he has a drug problem? Rather than just locking up the thief for a while and then letting him go again with little or no attempt to figure out the root cause of their car stolen, we might be better off turning to drug addiction services. This is a solution that will eliminate the root cause of the problem and also reduce the likelihood of a repeat offense.

This strategy – an attempt to address the underlying problems of crime – is an approach that will ultimately make our societies safer. Research shows that the involvement of community-based crime prevention organizations has a tangible impact on reducing the rate of homicide in the city, the rate of violent crime and the number of property thefts.

Police officers are not already serving many people

Blacks have a 1 in 1,000 chance of being killed by the police , and research shows they are 3.5 times more likely to be killed by the police than whites . This includes George Floyd, as well as countless others whose names have become rallying cries on social media. This is a public health crisis and also a reminder that the police don’t work for everyone, but only for some of us.

The question of who the police really serve has been painfully clear last week, given the numerous cases of police brutality against peaceful protesters in cities across the country. This Twitter thread cites dozens of examples , including Salt Lake City police pushing an elderly man walking with a cane, and NYC cops in SUVs driving into a crowd of protesters. Literally last night in Buffalo, New York, police were caught on tape when police knocked an elderly man to the ground ; Several officers walked past this man, who was lying on the ground, bleeding. These are not isolated incidents, they tell us how widespread the culture of police violence is.

Victims of sexual assault or domestic violence often report that they receive little or no meaningful assistance from the police. This is, in part, likely due to the fact that sexual misconduct and domestic violence in the police force are systemic problems and there is no effective system for holding them accountable.

Police sexual misconduct, which ranges from sexual harassment to violent rape, is widespread, and a police officer is charged with sexual harassment every five days. In a survey of police sexual misconduct that led to arrest, approximately half of the cases occurred while the police were on duty; misconduct during off-duty officers’ work was often exacerbated by their status as a police officer, as well as the presence of service weapons.

And these were cases that ended in an officer’s arrest. The actual prevalence of such incidents is believed to be much higher, as few women report sexual assault , and the victim’s status as a police officer is likely to further deter reporting. In a survey of 1,000 young people in New York City, two in five young women reported having been sexually harassed by police officers. If someone is sexually assaulted by a police officer, where do they go for help?

Research on domestic violence involving police officers is limited, but suggests that police officers are more likely to commit domestic violence than the general population. When it comes to ensuring that their victims receive help or justice, there is almost nothing they can do . Whether the abuser is a police officer or not, all too often the police are simply not a meaningful source of assistance for these victims.

Instead, we could address domestic violence or sexual assault through social services and community-based initiatives where victims are provided with the help they need to escape their abuser and recover. This would allow victims – especially in black communities – to actually get the help they need without weighing the risk of becoming another statistic for police violence.

Money is limited, and how we spend it matters

Government budgets are tight and what we decide to invest in matters. If we choose to spend money on a heavily militarized police force, whose officers are rarely held accountable for their wrongdoings, it’s dollars that are not being spent on programs that can better help those in need.

The United States spends huge sums of money on police protection – the budget is double what we spend on social security programs such as food stamps, temporary assistance to needy families, and complementary social security programs. In Minneapolis, the police department takes up 30 percent of the city’s budget . They also have a horrific track record of racially motivated police brutality, using force against blacks seven times more often than against whites. The death of George Floyd was no exception. This was evidence of a morbid norm. Imagine what could be achieved if the money the police fed were used to fund programs that would provide relief and comfort to George Floyd and others in his community, rather than pay for their abuse.

George Floyd would be alive. Countless other victims of police violence, whose deaths went unnoticed and unreported, could also be like that.