The End of Policing

The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale

A clearly and articulately written rundown of the major areas in which police exert their power and control in the modern US, the patterns of abuse that arise from such police control, reforms that have been attempted to address said abuses, and more profound/abolitionist alternatives to policing altogether towards which people can advocate and organize. While focusing primarily on policing in the US and covering policing of schooling, mental illness, homelessness, sex work, drug use, gangs, borders, and political movements/activism, Vitale also includes some history of the rise of the modern, militarized police and examples of policing in other countries which provide, variously, context, counter-examples, and further supports for his arguments.

If you’ve known for a while—or for your whole life—that the police are a racist system of surveillance and control, most of the information in this book won’t really be new or surprising to you. Still, it’s a clear-eyed summary of the scope and pervasiveness of the travesty that is policing in the US, and useful for its concise analysis of attempted reforms and potential alternatives; this would be a great book to recommend to folks newly aware of the racist and corrupt nature of the police. The chapter that felt the most “off” to me was the chapter on policing sex work. While Vitale acknowledged a few times that many, many people do sex work out of their own free will, there was still a vague but present sense that Vitale thought “most” people only do sex work because they have no other options or are otherwise coerced. Had Vitale more prominently centered the reality that a huge number of people do sex work not as a last resort but because it’s a job option that can provide a lot more money and a lot more control over your time than other careers, this chapter would have been more strong and accurate.

Overall a solid and accessible introduction to the horrors of modern US policing and a powerful argument for how ending policing altogether is the only way out.