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In 2018, officers pushed, grabbed, or struck 430,000 people nationwide; by comparison, they fatally shot 990. “Most police violence,” Sierra-Arévalo writes, “is used to preemptively assert control over interactions or in response to passive, nonviolent resistance.”

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What is policing for? Far from creating safety, in America the profession has always been a means of asserting control. In its origins, policing as we know it today was created to put down slave revolts. During the civil rights era, police brutally suppressed peaceful marchers. Today, police remain the frontline force cracking down on demonstrations for racial and economic justice, and the danger imperative remains a powerful tool in explaining away their actions.

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Adding community-strengthening nonprofits can reduce murder and overall crime: They bolster people’s ability to set expectations for neighborhood safety. Environmental fixes like greening vacant lots can also cut violence: They remove signs of blight and physical opportunities to do harm. Expanded budgets for violence interrupters, mental health practitioners, and restorative justice programs can provide for community needs—all without resorting to the punitive policies that have filled America’s prisons.

✏️ Non-police plans that can actually do good. It’s not about police reform.. it’s about community-strength and bolstering 🔗 View Highlight

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Above all, this is what the public has been demanding: time and resources to create community safety on their own terms.

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