Cop’s Don’t Stop Violence

Jared Knowles & Andrea J. Ritchie.

July 2021.

Combating Narratives Used to Defend Police Instead of Defunding Them

Police are facing one of the greatest crises of legitimacy in a generation. In the wake of the largest uprisings in U.S. history, sparked by police violence, bloated police budgets, and the deadly impacts of a failure to invest in community health and safety laid bare by the pandemic, pro-police forces are on the defensive. So they are reaching for one of their most reliable weapons — fear.

This is nothing new — cops and policymakers have always used fearmongering to push “law and order” agendas and pour more and more money into police departments. Now, with police budgets under scrutiny by campaigns to defund the police and refund our communities all across the country, lawmakers and the media are once again recycling old talking points about increasing violence and crime, claiming that campaigns to defund police are responsible.

Read our new report to explore data, talking points, and narratives that highlight the fact that COPS DON’T STOP VIOLENCE.