We are at an important moment in the debates over police reform.

With Donald Trump in the White House and Jeff Sessions heading the Department of Justice, many liberals see a profound threat to the push for police accountability. These reformers tend to have the ear of urban mayors, large criminal justice reform organizations, and the media. Their agenda prioritizes new technology for police such as body cameras and mobile smart phones, additional training to reduce bias and deescalate conflicts, more diversity within the ranks, new forms of community policing, and accountability mechanisms such as civilian review boards.

At the same time, there is a growing chorus of voices that question the standard suite of liberal reforms and instead demand more far-reaching changes. Often growing out of the prison abolition movement, these figures see policing as an extension of coercive state power that buttresses social inequalities. Organizations like Black Youth Project 100, Critical Resistance, and The Youth Justice Coalition call for a variety of de-policing measures that would shift funding for police into funding for youth programs and economic development.