The Tyranny of Policing and the Imprudence of Police Reform

Covering both the global north and south, this chapter provides a brief history of policing from feudal Europe to today, demonstrating how policing began with capitalism and European colonialism. The legacies of the colonial era remain in policing today. In addition, policing has developed globally in a relational way, with policing under colonialism informing policing in the colonizing home countries. Police reform efforts continue the coloniality of policing, with modern policing models in the global north rooted in colonialism being labeled as best practices and informing police reform efforts in the global south. Modern southern policing models also influence police reform in both northern and southern locales. Research demonstrates that police reform fails to transform policing in any significant way. Police reform will never be able to transform policing into a benign, democratic system that brings community safety or social justice, as it was never designed to do so.