Read the full article from NPR, here.

For many Americans, it goes without saying that the police are critical in maintaining public safety. Have an emergency? Call the police. But many others — especially black people and poor people — have long countered that the police pose more of a threat to their safety than a boon. See a police officer? Walk in the other direction.

So it seems like a good moment to talk to Alex S. Vitale. He’s the author of the 2017 book The End of Policing. In it, he argues that rather than focus on police reform or officer retraining, the country needs to reconsider fundamentally what it is the police should be doing at all.

Author Profile

UB Center for Urban Studies

Latest entries

• Systemic Structural Racism07/23/2026Why many Black Americans were rooting for Argentina to lose the World Cup
• Housing Conditions07/20/2026How HUD Is Seeking to Make Fighting Housing Discrimination Even Harder
• Voting Rights07/17/2026How Trump’s Midterm Strategy is Hitting Black and Brown Communities Hardest
• Housing Conditions07/13/2026The Housing Act Trades Affordability for Builder Profits