The police are viewed as guardians of public safety and enforcers of the law. How accurate is this? Given endemic police violence which is often aimed at racialised and minoritised groups and the failure of many attempts at reform, attention has turned to community-generated models of support. These include defunding the police and instead funding alternatives to criminalisation and incarceration. This book is the first comprehensive overview of police divestment, using international examples and case studies to reimagine community safety beyond policing and imprisonment. Showcasing a range of practical examples, this topical book will be relevant for academics, policy makers, activists and all those interested in the Black Lives Matter movement, protest movements and the renewed interest in policing and abolitionism more generally.
Chris Cunneen is Professor of Criminology at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
1. Time for change2. A brief history of policing3. Don’t police solve crime?4. The protest movement never stopped: from Black Power to zero tolerance5. Police violence is the pandemic6. The protection racket7. Disabling policing, protecting community health8. The failure of reform9. What is to be done?
Ana Rodas, Melanie Simpson, Paddy Rawlinson, Ronald Kramer, Emma Ryan, Emmeline Taylor, Reece Walters, Alan Beckley, Chris Cunneen, Ashlee Gore, Amanda Porter, Scott Poynting, Emma Russell