Author Kristian Williams on the History of Policing in the US

The History of Policing in the United States:
a conversation with Kristian Williams, author of Our Enemies in Blue

By BART: West Oakland station, cross 7th, north on Center 3 blocks, left on 12th 2 blocks.
By Bus: 13 line to 12th/Campbell or 19 line to 12th/Peralta

No subject is more central to recent political debate in Oakland than the function of the police in our communities. Kristian Williams brings a historical perspective to current events, allowing us to better understand the role of policing institutions in U.S. society from slave patrols to the present.

Praise for Our Enemies in Blue:

“Should become mandatory reading for all police academy
students.”—Damon Woodcock (Ret.), Portland, Oregon, Police Bureau

“A well-researched, historically grounded, and mordant critique of American policing past and present.”—Christian Parenti

Even critics have a difficult time imagining a world without police. But just what is the role of police in a democracy: to serve the public or to protect the powerful? Tracing the evolution of the modern police force back to the slave patrols, this controversial study observes the police as the armed defender of a violent status quo.

Written for both the lay reader and for scholars, Our Enemies in Blue demonstrates that police misconduct isn’t just a matter of “bad apples,” but a function of the very nature of policing in the US. Williams examines the populations most often subjected to police abuse and the forms that abuse takes, delving into the role of police brutality in repressing political dissent and in preserving existing structures of inequality.

Kristian Williams is also the author of American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination