It’s not so hard to imagine a life without police

Scholars, writers and activists have long considered this possibility. Many, including Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Angela Davis and Alex S. Vitale, have developed sophisticated theories about a life without both police and prisons, two institutions joined in a symbiotic relationship. But never in mainstream political debate has such a radical diminishment of police emerged as an achievable reality. Never, it seems, until now, in the final year of Donald Trump’s chaotic first term, when cities across the country are actively considering significant cuts to police department budgets and, in the case of Minneapolis, already working on dismantling its municipal police force.

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