No More Police: A Case for Abolition

by Mariame Kaba

We also cannot create safety by replacing police with policing and criminalization in different forms. As explored in the “No Soft Police” chapter, police exist in virtually every public space and institution—medical professionals, social workers, and even community organizations are engaged in the project of policing. The goal is not to find Someone Else, if not police, to put people Somewhere Else, if not jails, prisons, and detention centers. The goal is elimination of the violence inherent in all forms of policing and incarceration, including those enacted by other institutions of the police state—and the violence they fail to prevent—and to create conditions under which needs are met, harm is prevented, and, when it occurs, addressed transformatively.