It bothers me when abolitionists I respect say things like "There& #39;s no evidence police make anyone safer."

There are decent papers using reasonable causal inference methods that find police deter crimes with victims. That& #39;s evidence.

We should abolish the police anyway.

Abolishing the police doesn& #39;t need to hinge on there being no benefits to police.

Police act unjustly in a bunch of horrific ways. These horrors predictably follow from the incentives associated with police & states. Plus alternative ways of providing security are possible.

So, yeah, police provide some security & deterrence. There& #39;s no need to deny this.

Let& #39;s be abolitionists who acknowledge & seriously engage with the current literature on the economics of crime yet still have the courage of our convictions.