Defund Police

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Policing (and prisons) are ubiquitous features of our world, yet these institutions have not always existed, nor played as large a role in our society as they do today. In response to the death of George Floyd, racial justice protests sparked a renewed interest in police abolition as an ideological goal - with the defunding of police departments becoming a policy informed by those ideas.
Ryan Cudemus-Brunoli
March 2023
Don't believe the hype; Mayor Bowser's budget engagement forums are little more than show-n-tell propaganda events.
Sela L
January 2023
An organizers guide to building a community base for police abolition.
John P.
December 2022
In the past fourteen months, current and former officers have brought five lawsuits against MPD. The failure of the department to protect honest whistleblowers casts doubt on the possibility of police reform.
Bill Mosley
November 2022
A new coalition is looking to disrupt police involvement in basic traffic enforcement.
Alex Mell-Taylor
June 2022
It's simple to wave your hand and say you will hire an unrealistic number of police officers. But reality is more complicated than that.
Metro DC DSA's Defund MPD working group
April 2022
The District has made strides to replace police with non-law enforcement public servants and non-carceral programming. Our message to DC Council is simple: keep going.
Bill Mosley
March 2022
What opponents of CRT are really afraid of is white students embracing solidarity with students of color in favor of social change.
Bill Mosley
January 2022
Has the national defund movement slowed? Part of the problem may be the movement’s messaging.
Gary zZz
January 2022
In DC, the Defund MPD effort has found quiet success in changing policy and opinions on policing shared by the broader public.
The Washington Revolutionary
October 2021
'The Washington Revolutionary' reports on the grotesque intersection of police brutality, gentrification and the thin blue line of silence that produces false narratives.
Gary zZz
August 2021
What would it take to reduce gun violence as we emerge from the pandemic? (Hint — more cops are not the solution.)
Gary zZz
July 2021
On Thursday, June 10th, the Defund MPD coalition brought its case for reimagining public safety to the District Council.
Alex McDowell
June 2021
An explanation for the emotions, language, and objectives of the sometimes-embattled term “Defund.”
Daniel Adkins
June 2021
To end the prevalence of "warrior" culture found within police departments, PD bargaining units should be combined with other social support staff.
Gary zZz
February 2021
A decade of neoliberal retrenchment is finally starting to crack. Can DC's left recognize the moment?
Nell Geiser
December 2020
The Police Union is a critical barrier to defunding the Metropolitan Police Department and investing in the community - here's what needs to happen.
Gary zZz
September 2020
The latest eyewitness reporting on protesters, hostile and often brutal police conduct, and Mayor Bowser’s duplicitous and self-serving maneuvers.
Sara Rain Tree
September 2020
How do we think about the police and their unions? Their entanglement in the goals of the capitalist ruling class suggest that they are outliers in the real workers’ movement.
Gary zZz
July 2020
A wide network of activists and organizers, fueled by popular uprising in DC, provides a legitimate political opening for local change.
Kam W.
July 2020
The left should see the problem of police brutality as the multiracial class issue that it is, and the left should propose specific policy alternatives to the current police “warrior” culture.
Kurt Stand
December 2019
The quick propensity to lock people up on one side, while failing to provide adequate service or opportunities on the other, has undermined the quality of life in Maryland.
Larry Stafford Jr.
November 2019
I think I’ve learned that punishment and justice are not the same. The carceral system is not something I could ever find myself celebrating or expecting to bring me peace.
Sonja Neve
November 2019
Maryland needs a system that treats addiction and substance abuse as a health care, instead of criminal issue.
Daniel Adkins
August 2019
A program to abolish prisons and police needs more than sloganeering. We need a program that understands the struggle to win control for all the people looking to pursue a more just society.
Kurt Stand
June 2019
Intrinsically valuable in and of themselves, a reentry council, an office of returning citizens, and community-based halfway houses can also open up a pathway for changing a system that is too willing to throw away the lives of too many.
Bill Mosley
December 2018
The pro-police message of NLEM demands a countervailing narrative, one that makes more than a brief pass at the abuses of law-enforcement officers.
Chip Gibbons
September 2018
Occupation Free DC is part of a nationwide campaign led by Jewish Voice for Peace that seeks to get US law enforcement to end its “deadly exchange” with Israeli police and military.
Andy Feeney
February 2018
To understand the roots of mass incarceration and warrior-style policing in DC we must start with a profound social fact: In the years preceding and during our punishment binge, black communities were devastated by historically unprecedented levels of crime and violence.