To Downsize Bloated, Too-Powerful Police, Look at These Examples

Published in Foreign Policy

By Robert Muggah

Across the United States, the debate over the future of policing is gathering steam. In the wake of deadly police violence and massive protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement, law enforcement agencies are banning so-called neck restraints, as well as increasing oversight of police departments and setting up task forces to propose further reforms. Calls for defunding and even abolishing the police have gained substantial momentum. Some proposals are more radical than others, leading to worries that hasty cuts and declining police morale could yield perverse effects such as rising criminality, especially in the most vulnerable communities.

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