Eddie Bruce-Jones

The idea to abolish the police is a call to change the social and political structures which necessitate its existence and replacing authorised state violence with community transformative justice schemes.
This is an introduction to the concept, starting with the founding of policing in British colonial settings to control native peoples, importing techniques to deal with the home population, and preserving the status quo in the guise of protecting the community from the evils ultimately caused by the system itself. The middle brings that history to the present, incorporating the prison-industrial complex of which the police is an adjunct, and rounds of with an exploration of non-violent solutions to maintaining community security. It all seems viable, and something that will necessarily be grass-roots in implementation as the present system best served those already wielding power.
The chapters are written by different authors, with strong common themes of oppressive control by patriarchal institutions, and the intersection of race, feminism and lgbt+ experiences as the lens through which that oppression can most readily be recognised and resisted.
Much to think about: more to explore.… (mer)