Police and prison abolition didn’t just spring up out of nowhere during the pandemic–it has a long history of activism and conversation. Here are some resources to get started and help frame conversations about defunding the police that you might have with friends and family.
- “Yes, we mean literally abolish the police”, by Mariame Kaba
- Substack archives of Alec Karakatsanis’ writing on police abolition
- The Marshall Project’s Police Abolition archives
- 12 Things to Do Besides Calling the Cops
- A World Without Police (large collection of mutual aid resources and articles)
In Wichita, there has been an abundance of reporting on the dysfunction endemic to the Wichita Police Department. Some of the highlights are listed below, as well as a WPD-produced report responding to calls from the Wichita community to defund or decrease police funding during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Wichita Police “Response to the Community”
- Jensen Hughes report on WPD: “Broken”, “Dysfunctional”, “Horrible”
- Continued fallout from WPD racist text messages scandal
- 3000 people are on WPD’s “Gang List”. Many don’t know they are on it.
- WPD has spent $150k to defend against litigation related to “Gang List”
- Wichita Police spend $1.6 million to increase surveillance
- WPD increases surveillance along the Arkansas river through private donations