Our argument for police abolition has three central elements: First, and foremost, police don’t promote safety, they prevent it. We are abolitionists because we want more safety, not less—as abolitionist lawyer Erin Miles Cloud says, “everybody wants safety for someone, somewhere. Abolitionists want safety for everyone, everywhere.”84 We call for abolition of police because, despite all of the power, resources, and legitimacy we pour into them, they cannot and will not deliver safety. The vast majority of what police do has nothing to do with preventing or interrupting violence or harm, and a
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