This week, we focus on the history of police in the United States, and the concept of community policing. Alex Vitale, author of the new book, “The End of Policing” shares his research about the origins of modern police, and the inadequate ways that police respond to community issues. Prison abolition often focuses primarily on the prisons themselves, rather than the ways in which policing itself is a major factor in mass incarceration. Along with Vitale’s insights, we recommend our previous episodes with Kristian Williams and Max Felker-Kantor to further explore how police methods fuel the problem of mass incarceration, and often exacerbate the community problems they aim to solve.

You can hear those previous episodes on policing here and here.