Alex Vitale is my guest on the podcast this week! What a pleasure. From his website: Alex is Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and a Visiting Professor at London Southbank University. He has spent the last 30 years writing about policing and consults both police departments and human rights organizations internationally. Prof. Vitale is the author of City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics and The End of Policing. His academic writings on policing have appeared in Policing and Society, Police Practice and Research, Mobilization, and Contemporary Sociology. He is also a frequent essayist, whose writings have appeared in The NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, Vice News, Fortune, and USA Today.

Now, I know this is a hot topic right now. This conversation makes some people very angry. You have cops in your family. Or maybe you’re a cop. I just want to be the first to tell you that this conversation is not the end all conversation on this matter. BUT don’t write it off before you do the research and study. Buy Alex’s book There are other brilliant resources and lectures out there that I’ll link to in the show notes. If your response to this is simply, “Well, we can’t not have police. That’s stupid. What about all the bad guys?” then please take a deep breath and start studying and researching because this is a complex issue with only complex, nuanced answers. It’s not easy but it is worth checking out if we truly want a country that is for all people and a country that wants life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone. 

Please check out his website. It’s a goldmine of resources! On it, you’ll find television appearances, review of his book, essays, radio appearances, news coverage of his work, and so much more. I promise you, you could spend DAYS on his website. And this is an important topic. So, why not spend some time learning about this important topic?

Remember, [email protected] for anything at all. Love y'all.

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