"The creators of the new police did not see themselves as marching inexorably towards an ideal of modern policing. Instead, they adapted preexisting institutions to the demands of new circumstances, evolving their systems slowly through a process of intervention and imitation... its direction determined by a variety of factors including political pressure, scandals, wars, riots, economics, immigration, budget constraints, the law, and sometimes crime."

So in the computer lab just now, two men in their 30s - one black, one Filipino - were getting into verbal altercations and calling each other various homophobic and racist slurs, and another patron (white man) wanted me to call security on them, but luckily i knew both of their names and was able to be like "hey is everything okay? oh really, y'all are chill? can y'all not use that language in the library AND keep your voices down?"

and just like that they apologized to each other and the situation diffused.

so there was no need to call security (or if the situation had escalated, the police) and its just lucky I knew their names

and I *wish* that it could be a ~teachable~ moment to tell ppl about how words are violent etc etc but i know both patrons and one is perhaps not at his full capacity/in need of more support than I can give so really the best thing to do is remind him to just keep his voice down, that's all

anyways i say all of this as a way to explain how the act of "calling security" should be avoided at all costs

nobody was in danger in this situation, people were just uncomfortable. everyone should feel comfortable in the library but also nobody should be punished by security for being loud in the library (loud and saying slurs)

Being a police/prison abolitionist isn't just a trendy cool thing and its certainly not a "I'm More Radical Than You" position to hold just for the hell of it

You have to be dedicated to harm reduction and taking on the responsibility of being a neutralizing force in the face of conflict, and knowing that calling security/cops can actually increase harm, trauma, etc

It doesn't have to be "don't call the cops and feel frozen and scared"

And everyone's participation in de-escalation or diffusing tension/conflict is going to vary based on their individual needs/capabilities

But we should all feel dedicated to harm reduction and taking care of each other and the people around us

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORLDS WE CONSTITUTE

"Relying on a slave economy, the American South faced unique problems of social control, especially in areas where White people were in the minority. Regardless of their own economic class or ethnic background, White people were haunted by the prospect of a slave revolt. They became utterly obsessed with controlling the lives of Black people, free and slave, and developed a deep and terrible fear of any unsupervised activity in which Black people might engage."

- Our Enemies in Blue

"Faced with the difficulties of keeping a major portion of the population enslaved to a small elite, Southern society borrowed from the practices of the Caribbean, especially Barbados. There, slave owners used professional slave catchers and militias to capture runaways, while overseers were responsible for maintaining order on the plantations. The weaknesses of this system led to the creation of slave codes, laws directed specifically to the governing of slaves."

^the first thing I thought of was KRS-One saying "OVERSEER OVERSEER OVERSEEROVERSEEROFFICER"

"The overseer rode around the plantation
The officer is off patrolling all the nation
The overseer could stop you what you're doing
The officer will pull you over just when he's pursuing
The overseer had the right to get ill
And if you fought back, the overseer had the right to kill
The officer has the right to arrest
And if you fight back they put a hole in your chest!"

"The slave patrols represented a departure from the traditional values of Southern culture, and though the patrols were created to defend slavery, their efficacy was limited by the same ideology that justified the slave system. Rather than develop more formal means of control, Southern ideology encouraged a reliance on informal systems rooted in racism."

What's ridiculous and mind-boggling about early policing in the US is that it was very much a state-by-state developed thing, where slave patrols functioned separately from the state and focused on plantations and there must have been a point where the whole thing was expanded and the "police state" actually came to be

"While originally bound up with the militia system, the [slave] patrols served in a specialized capacity distinguishing them from the rest of the militia. Furthermore, the authority over the patrols came more and more to shift from the militia to the courts, and then to the city government, implying that patrolling was regarded as a civil rather than military activity."

- Our Enemies in Blue by Kristian Williams

Chapter 2 of Our Enemies in Blue ("The Origins of American Policing") does a great job outlining how each police force/former slave patrol started as plantation-specific and then grew to a city-wide thing - and it also does a great job tracing the origins of policing in the UK to the US even if conditions were different. Having said that, it still feels like a survey (it has to, each section could be a whole book)

The main takeaway from survey-style chapters like these is

ACAB everywhere, from the beginnings of policing as a ridiculous and terrible institution

"Hiring, discipline, transfers, and promotions were all governed by the convenience of the machine organization. Hence, whenever control of the city government changed hands, turnover in the police department was sure to follow."

Ch. 3, "The Genesis of a Policed Society," is talking about how even before police became a part of state structures, there was corruption, bribery, coverups, nepotism - the whole shebang - in policing institutions ESPECIALLY in the relationships police had with political machines like Tammany Hall

(what a throwback to APUSH amiright)

"Nineteenth-century policing did not just resemble racketeering, it was unmistakable gangsterism.

... Both the protection schemes that ensured the coooperation of the underworld and the brawling gangs that controlled the polls on election day relied on - at the very least - the acquiescence of the police... The modernization of policing made possible important advances in municipal government..."

"... The police provided the means by which the power of local government could be consolidated into a single coherent system. In this respect, the rise of political machines resembled the earlier rise of the state itself."

@derpayatz unsure if Williams will address this but yes you're totally right!