Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

QoFriendly Neighborhood Police State," brings the discussion up to the present,focusing on current trends such as militarization and community policing.And the afterword, "Making Police Obsolete," considers community-basedalternatives to policing, especially those connected to resistance movementshere and abroad.Throughout, the focus is on police in their modern form, particularly inurban departments in the United States. Some discussion of earlier modelswill be featured as background, and conditions in other countries are sometimesdescribed by way of comparison. Likewise, the mention of other lawenforcement authorities-federal agencies, county sheriffs, private guards,and the like-will be unavoidable to the degree that they influence, resemble,or take on the duties of the municipal police. IAs the narrative progresses, several related trends become discernible.The first is the expansion of police autonomy and the subsequent growthof their political influence. The second is the continual effort to make policingmore proactive, with the aim of preventing offenses. Related to each ofthese is the increased penetration of police authority into the community andinto the lives of individuals. These trends are related to larger social conditions-slaveryand segregation, the rise and fall of political machines, thecreation of municipal bureaucracies, the development of capitalism, and soon. It is argued, in short, that the police exist to control troublesome populations,especially those that are likely to rebel. This task has little to do withcrime, as most people think of it, and much to do with politics-especiallythe preservation of existing inequalities. To the degree that a social orderworks to the advantage of some and the disadvantage of others, its preservationwill largely consist of protecting the interests of the first group from thedemands of the second. And that, as we shall see, is what the police do.Robert Reiner claims that" [tv] a ldrge e.xleul, a :,uciely gels lhe pulicemenit deserves."2 It is hard to know whether Mr. Reiner is extremely optimisticabout the police or extremely cynical about society. But undeniably,the history of our society is reflected in the history of its police, Much ofthat history clashes with our nation's patriotic self-image. TIle history ofAmerica's police is not the story of democracy so much as it is the storyof the prevention of democracy. Yet there is another story. an ever-presentsubtext-the story of resistance. It, too, drives this narrative, and if there isa reason for hope anywhere in this book, we may find it here-amidst theslave revolts, strikes, sit-ins, protest marches, and riots.2