Defund: Black Lives, Policing, and Safety for All

A fiercely-argued, deeply-informed examination of why defunding the police is the only way to support a model of security and protection that increases public safety overall

“Hudson moves us past the failed rhetoric of police reform and provides a powerful analysis that reveals the harsh truth that policing produces neither safety nor justice and must be replaced by a world that meets people’s basic needs.” —Alex S. Vitale, author of The End of Policing

Over the last few years, in response to videos demonstrating the brutal and often deadly tactics of law enforcement officers, calls to "defund the police" have increasingly rung out across the world. But this is not a trendy new movement: Black activists have been sounding the alarm on the dangers of policing for decades. Time and again history has watched as officers respond to minor calls with escalation, wrongful arrests, and even murder. Yet policymakers continue to fund and endorse reform programs that have proven ineffective at curbing these actions. Why? Because most of what we know about policing is wrong.

In Defund, longtime activist Sandy Hudson examines the origins of commonly held ideas about police and safety to show how police-related social policies are based more on a sensationalized idea of safety than on outcomes and data. She demonstrates the destructive effects of policing on scores of people, arguing that investment in community resources and infrastructure rather than law enforcement is the key to making us safer. Clear-eyed and hopeful yet incisive and pragmatic, Defund paves a clear path forward and demonstrates that a future without police is not only entirely possible, but necessary.