Q:- If you abolish the police, who would keep people safe?

A:- You, me and all our neighbours alongside and those who take on the specialist roles and duties around protecting our communities.

Let me break it down with an example, in this case Greater Manchester in the UK

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Greater Manchester has a population somewhere near 3,000,000. It's police force has around 11,500 staff, a few hundred of which are volunteers.

It has 7300 officers, 350 specials (part time volunteers) they are also supported by some
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606 police community support officers who provide operational support to and fill in much of the community policing role that the police withdrew from in the 80's and 90's.

That is at best around 8.5 members of the community actively keeping it safe.

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Now this police force does not serve the community. It serves the state and it's role is to maintain public order and arrest those who break the laws of the state, whether that is murder or protest. It is weaponised cliques act as forceful custodians.
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However, without going to much into the ills of this specific force (with it's notable racista nd violent elements) let's discuss safety.

Now these 8.5k are ostensibly there to safeguard the lives of 3,000,00 split across 10 boroughs, dozens of towns and hundreds of estates.

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The overwhelming volume of a constables day is not dealt with stopping criminals but other roles. A huge portion is actually dealing with mental health issues and providing community support, which they are neither equipped or trained to deal with. 6/

Alongside this we have things such as supporting high court enforcement, baliffs as "observors" as well as managing events, responding to "community checks", doing drink driving checkpoints, dealing with minor offences and responding to concerned citizens. 7/

What Anarchist and abolitionists in general, what we believe in is that maintaining social order is the responsibility not of a tiny force but us all.

Instead of 8,500 running 20 functions and spiralling into a forceful hand of control we should have 3,000,000. 8/

we are talking about pro-active communities, safeguarding not via reliance on a distant and removed force of a few, who serve the state first but on themselves. Each of us working together in small and large ways.

The aspects of what is currently the "police role"

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would be split out and decentralised, for the very same reason with have a fire or ambulance service. Specialism.

This doesn't mean that "no one responds" it means that everyone does and the first thing they do is contact the LOCAL specialist for the situation.

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The principle and founding philosophy is no longer to force the law and maintain the status qou via a series of codifed dogma but to seek a just result, contextually appropriate. There are many differant visions of how this would work but the results are the same.

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This isn't just a case of "response" either but for wider social change. The resources we have would be directed to dealing with social issues which create hostile environments instead of use the threat of violence to control the resulting criminality

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This doesn't mean that there wouldn't be a need for specialist groups, such as those who deal with cyber crime,investigation or terrorism, but that their organisations would be beholden to the community not the state and they are part of a process of transformative justice. 13/

The threat from the state is that without these 8,500 people serving them and doing their bidding the 3,000,000 would be living in constant fear. We believe those same 8,500 would be better utilised as part of a a more local, personal and ethical justice system. 14/

That in an Anarchistic society, where we are no longer trapped in an abusive relationship with the state, where we have genuinely individual and community responsibility and solidarity we would all be safer and that many of the boogiemen used to control us would not exist. 15/

Fuck the police, isn't an incitement to chaos, but to community. You don't have to deal with officer 737 if you know it's Sue from down the way, she knows your mum and her sister runs an art class your kid goes too.

Mutual respect and community.

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The path there isn't easy.

Capitalism and the state have manifested a horrific underbelly of violence and criminality. Those who have grown up in it, feel trapped within it, I know I did.

Still, it's been shown time and time again by research and actual policy practice that 17/

the best methods to curb street gangs and organised criminality alike is to undermine the profit/survival incentive. This is where much of the resources alloted to police would go. You'd be suprised what a youth centre or vocational training can do to undermine crime.18/

This perspective on dealing with our social issues is not perfect, but it is much better than the one we have now. Where punishment is a label we slap on indentured servitude and the warehousing of people for private profit. that isn't justice and it doesn't keep us safe.

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So abolish the police, build up the autonomous community. Take responsibility for yourself and those around you. We do not need brutal lackies of the state to pretend they care, we need a change in our social assumptions and core beliefs, we need compassion and solidarity.

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