The End of Policing

Drawing from the work of criminologist James Q. Wilson and George Kelling (1982), Alex S. Vitale argues that the application of the broken windows theory is largely to blame for the continued abuse that marginalized communities face on a daily basis in the US. The theory holds that small disorderly points in the environment, like broken windows, are indicative of and correlate with more serious crime. Policing these disorders and small infractions, in theory, would lead to a lower crime rate. It is this sociobiological approach that continues to inform police officers, and it explains why racial profiling is still endemic. Compounding the problem is that police officers have a limited understanding of the law that they are meant to uphold. Vitale argues that there is also a discrepancy between what is being taught at police academies and what they are instructed to do by their peers on the streets. A warrior mentality is cultivated amongst police. This leads to the dehumanization of the very people that police are hired to protect and serve.

Vitale argues that there have been attempts to address these inequalities in the past. He refers to the Katzenback Report (1967), the Kerner Commission (1967), and the Safe Streets bill (1968) specifically.