Defund: Black Lives, Policing, and Safety for All by Sandy Hudson (4/1/25)

A fiercely-argued, deeply-informed examination of why defunding the police is the only way to support a model of security and protection that increases public safety overall

Time and again history has watched as police respond to minor calls with escalation, wrongful arrests, and even murder. Reform programs are often poorly implemented and their impacts short-lived. Calls to "defund the police" have rung out across the nation, yet the actual meaning of the phrase remains unclear to many. In Defund, longtime activist and founder of Black Lives Matter Canada Sandy Hudson elucidates what it actually means to "defund the police" and why it matters, by exploring today's criminal landscape, and the patterns and structures that result in safer, well-resourced communities. Hudson explores the origins of commonly held ideas about police and safety to show how police-related social policies are based more on a sensationalized idea of safety, than on outcomes and data.