A new book by Philip V. McHarris envisions a future where safety is not synonymous with policing, but rather prevention.
presents a reimagined world without police in his latest book, (Legacy Lit | Hatchette, 2024).
Tackling thorny issues with evidence, data, and personal stories, McHarris鈥檚 research delves into the weight of policing on people and communities and makes the case that many routine police reforms often only lead to more police.
鈥淲hat if our response to crisis wasn鈥檛 about control but about care?鈥� McHarris, an assistant professor of at the 人妻少妇专区, writes. 鈥淗ow can we create conditions where safety is a shared responsibility? How can we design justice so that no community is routinely oppressed? Envisioning such a world isn鈥檛 just a daydream; it鈥檚 the first step toward building a society where violence and fear no longer dictate our lives.鈥�
ABC News, , called his examination of the history and impact of policing 鈥渘ot just a surface-level critique, but a comprehensive analysis.鈥�
Across the country, efforts to 鈥渄efund,鈥� downsize, or abolish police departments gained traction after national unrest in 2020 prompted by the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, and later the death of Daniel Prude at the hands of police in Rochester, New York.
In the wake of Prude鈥檚 death, for instance, the city of Rochester launched the , a unit meant to supplement police interactions with people exhibiting signs of mental distress. The team was inspired by a nonprofit mobile crisis intervention program called (Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets) that has handled mental health calls in Eugene, Oregon, since 1989.
Lawmakers who support such initiatives argue that many social welfare tasks handled by armed police officers鈥攔esponding to drug overdoses and working with people dealing with mental illness or homelessness, to name a few鈥攚ould be better carried out by trained social workers or medical professionals.
McHarris鈥檚 research and commentary related to race, policing, and social justice has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and other major media outlets, and has inspired reform efforts.
McHarris joined the Department of Black Studies at the 人妻少妇专区 in 2023. His current book project, Brick Dreams, is an ethnography-based manuscript focused on the New York City Housing Authority and contemporary realities and challenges of public housing in America.
Below are his responses to a few questions about Beyond Policing and his related research during an interview.
Q&A with Philip V. McHarris
In a world without police, who would people call to report a crime or seek immediate assistance, like a victim of domestic abuse?
McHarris: A world beyond policing is one where communities have robust infrastructures of care in place, and where the conditions that lead to harm are addressed long before they escalate. In the case of domestic abuse, for instance, specialized services鈥攕uch as crisis response teams, mental health professionals, and both rapid and long-term housing support鈥攚ould be readily available and adequately funded. These services would be community-rooted and trauma-informed, unlike current policing models that often exacerbate harm for vulnerable populations.
It鈥檚 also crucial to note that at least two studies have found that 40 percent of police households聽, four times higher than the general public. The power that police officers hold shapes their ability to engage in unchecked violence, both on the streets and within their homes. This points to the reality that police are not best equipped to respond to domestic violence, especially when many people living in police households need interventions themselves.
Beyond this, we need new ways of understanding harm, violence, and conflict鈥攎oving beyond limited frames of crime as metrics of concern around safety, which I discuss in聽Beyond Policing. So, the real question is, who do we call when there is a need for help? Moving beyond police means envisioning a system where prevention and response are prioritized by trained responders and community safety approaches, rather than relying on a system that often perpetuates harm.
Does the world you imagine still have some law enforcement functions?
McHarris: The vision of abolition emphasizes addressing the root causes of violence and harm and developing non-carceral safety systems, rather than relying on reactive, punitive systems. This means building approaches that not only prevent harm from occurring in the first place but also address extreme situations if they arise in very different ways.
However, these approaches must be built from the ground up, centering true community safety鈥攏ot violence or control. Instead of traditional policing models, this would involve comprehensive, community-driven responses rooted in care, conflict resolution, trained teams, and accountability.
So, in short, no. There are mechanisms of safety and accountability, but they do not mirror the logics or formations of policing today.
Is there a better word than 鈥渄efunding鈥� to describe the redirection of funds from policing to alternative models?
McHarris: 鈥淒efunding鈥� is often misunderstood, but it stems from the divest/invest strategy, which emphasizes redirecting resources away from punitive systems and toward life-affirming ones. 鈥淒efund/fund鈥� may be more descriptive, though rallying cries like 鈥渄efund the police鈥� don鈥檛 always carry the full framework.
It鈥檚 important to note that when schools, health care, libraries, parks, or anti-poverty programs are defunded, there isn鈥檛 an uproar. But when police power鈥攚hich is at the root of police violence, not merely training or superficial reforms鈥攊s challenged, it becomes contentious.
The core issue is that challenging police power is what will ultimately allow us to build a safer world. Addressing violence and harm holistically means working toward a world beyond these systems of harm.
Is a world without police realistic?
McHarris: This question gets to the heart of abolitionist thinking. Abolition is a long-term project to build safer, healthier, and more equitable communities. What is often considered 鈥渞ealistic鈥� is shaped by our current structures, but many things once deemed impossible鈥攍ike the abolition of slavery鈥攚ere realized through sustained movement and imagination.
Abolition asks us to reimagine safety beyond punitive responses and to create conditions in which police are no longer necessary because the root causes of harm, conflict, and violence鈥攕uch as poverty, inequality, and disenfranchisement鈥攁re no longer in place.
Many people would have told Frederick Douglass that the abolition of slavery was unrealistic and impossible. But as Douglass himself said,聽鈥淚f there is no struggle, there is no progress.鈥澛燡ust as the vision to abolish slavery required imagination, struggle, and an unwavering belief in the possibility of a more just world, so too does the abolition of policing and the carceral state.
Abolition challenges us to envision a future where safety is not rooted in punishment, but in justice and care. A world without police may seem distant now, but, like the struggles of the past, it is through sustained movement and collective action that the impossible becomes reality. As geographer and abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore has said, 鈥淚n order to undo the forces of violence shaping our everyday lives, we would have to change everything.鈥�
Abolition is not simply about removing harmful systems, but about transforming society at its roots to create the conditions for true safety and flourishing.
