In recent years, anti-police slogans have multiplied and the idea of defunding the police has made its way, even if this remains a marginal current in the general population.
Defenders of defunding propose, among other things, to reduce the budgets allocated to police forces to invest more in prevention, mental health, the community, etc. The abolitionists, on the other hand, want the police as an institution to disappear. This is the radical idea defended by this collection of texts edited by Gwenola Ricordeau.
I was curious to discover the arguments and reflections of the abolitionists, telling myself that their criticisms could enlighten me on my blind spots and perhaps fuel my thinking. I admit that I was taken aback. By the title first: the number 1312 is a direct reference to the ACAB slogan, All cops are bastards. Then by the tone of several texts, very hard. It will be said that this violence of words is nothing compared to police violence, but I persist in believing that this closes the door to curious readers. That said, it must be understood that the abolitionists are part of a utopian and anarchist current that dreams of a better society. They do not seek to improve what is. They want to erase everything and start over.
An impossible reform
Racist, colonialist, sexist… for abolitionists, the violence of the police as an institution is intrinsic. As for its effectiveness, it would only be an illusion: in fact, say the authors, the police do not contribute to improving the feeling of security, they solve few crimes, they have no effect on society other than generating fear and violence.
On certain points, the abolitionists have not got it all wrong. Some of their criticisms have made their way into society and find greater resonance today: think of the notions of racial profiling or systemic racism, concepts that are better understood and debated in the public square.
This criticism of the police has also led to a wave of reform in recent years. However, for the abolitionists, the reform of the police is not an option, because it only legitimizes the institution.
A striking example, it must be recognized, put forward in the book: the Minneapolis police officer guilty of the murder of George Floyd in 2020 was part of one of the most reformed police forces in the United States. For abolitionists, this is an illustration of the uselessness of such a reform.
That said, we cannot extract a police force from the society in which it operates. American society is, even today, much more violent than Canadian society. This is what is disturbing in these texts: the impression that the police described in them – violent, murderous, racist to the core – are far removed from the Quebec police, even if the latter is far from perfect. That said, I am a privileged white woman. A young black man from a disadvantaged background might not have the same reading.
An impossible dialogue
If we accept for a moment the idea of abolitionists put forward by this collection, a society without police, what do we replace it with then? I did not find an answer to this question. Basically, this is not very surprising: anarchists believe that society is fully capable of self-regulation. But nature abhors a vacuum and we can already imagine groups of vigilant and other self-proclaimed vigilantes who would like to bring order in their own way. Faced with this alternative solution, I still prefer a police force, however imperfect it may be, which must be accountable to the population and learn to correct its excesses. I believe in its reform and this book has not made me change my mind.
Extract
“Whether or not we have personal grievances against him, hating the police is a political position. In a capitalist, racist and patriarchal society, to choose the camp of the oppressed, the exploited and the tyrannized is to count the police among its enemies. This antagonism naturally leads to thinking about the abolition of the police and the ways of organizing to fight against “our enemies in blue”, to use the title of the book by Kristian Williams, but also against their accomplices and their allies. That, in a nutshell, is the subject of this book, but also a summary definition (to which we will come back) of “abolitionism”. »
Who is Gwenola Ricordeau?
Gwenola Ricordeau is associate professor of criminal justice at California State University, Chico and author of several essays, including For them all – Women against prison (Lux, 2019).
1312 reasons to abolish the police
Book edited by Gwenola Ricordeau
Lux
352 pages