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Police History, Defunding, Abolition, and Transformative Justice

History of Policing in the United States

The history of policing in the United States is uniquely different from that of policing in other jurisdictions.  Because police forces in the U.S. were originally created to police former slaves or new immigrants, many argue that the police system as we know it is inherently racist due to its racist origins.  The materials in this section explore the history of policing in the U.S.