Police Reform: An Obituary

Nathan W. Pino is Professor of Sociology and Honorary Professor of International Studies at Texas State University, Texas, USA. Dr. Pino’s research interests focus primarily on the relationships between globalization, development, crime, and crime governance/control, with a focus on policing and police reform in developing countries. He has published over 20 book chapters and 45 articles in reputed academic journals. He has also coauthored six books: Democratic Policing in Transitional and Developing Countries (2006), Globalization, Police Reform, and Development: Doing it the Western Way? (2012), The Death and Resurrection of Deviance: Current Ideas and Research (2014), Rethinking Serial Murder, Spree Killing, and Atrocities: Beyond the Usual Distinctions (2015), The Emerald Handbook of Crime, Justice, and Sustainable Development (2021), and Unravelling the Crime Development Nexus (2022).

• 1. Introduction 2. The Tyranny of Policing and the Imprudence of Police Reform 3. Artificial Insecurity: Neocolonialism, Neoliberal Racial Capitalism, and Policing 4. From Death to Transfiguration 5. Obstacles to Transformative Change 6. An Obituary

"We need to stop living the lie that police reform can work.” Nathan Pino’s excellent book demonstrates eloquently why this statement is a political necessity for community safety and transformative justice across the global north/south. The book is theoretically informed, empirically rich and a wake-up call to “academic apologists and collaborators."Chris Cunneen, University of Technology, SydneyPino has assembled a broad international compendium of cutting-edge research to lay out the power of an abolitionist analysis and the pitfalls of academic complicity with the project of police reform.Alex Vitale, Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate CenterBuilding on his decades of research on police reforms in northern and southern policing systems, Pino makes a critical, compelling, and accessible contribution to the expanding debates on police reform and abolition. The book convincingly demonstrates how the police – created to uphold colonialism and racial neoliberal capitalism – cannot be reformed. Given its conceptual and empirical depth and breadth, this text will be of interest to students, academics, and activists globally.Zoha Waseem, University of Warwick