What Would Society Look Like Without Police? at Zócalo Public Square

Zócalo and the University of Toronto present The World We Want, an event series exploring our current societal, political and economic challenges and how we might emerge from the current moment. The series began with “What Would Society Look Like Without Police?”

All over the world, law enforcement violence and corruption have reignited anti-racism movements that seek the reform and defunding of police—or even their outright abolition. Advocates of defunding the police say it would open up possibilities for addressing social challenges, from improving mental health and developing more sustainable neighborhoods and economies to repairing the damage from centuries of discrimination and state violence. How would such a transfer of resources play out, especially in communities with a highly visible police presence? Who would replace police in their core work of emergency response, violence prevention, and crime investigation? What would it mean for a 21st-century society to dismantle, or even eliminate, its policing?

University of Toronto Faculty of Social Work Dean Dexter Voisin, Harvard University professor of criminal justice Sandra Susan Smith, and Rachel Harmon, director of the Center for Criminal Justice at University of Virginia Law, visited Zócalo to explore what our communities would look like without traditional cops. This panel discussion was moderated by Jamiles Lartey, staff writer at The Marshall Project.

Zócalo and the University of Toronto thank the Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles for supporting The World We Want.

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