The second element of our case is that the violence of policing cannot be reformed—because violence is inherent to the institution itself. Over a century of investigations, commissions, recommendations, oversight, and policy change has failed for this reason. As elaborated in the “Cops Don’t Stop Violence” and “Re-Form” chapters and throughout No More Police, police are violence workers: policing, at its core, is about securing compliance through force, threat of force, or deprivation. Laws, rules, and policies offer the illusion of a check on police power while enshrining police discretion to
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