Behind the Police

For the last episode of Behind the Police, we discuss the history of police militarization in the United States, and where it's led us to today. 

FOOTNOTES:

1. I'm From Philly. 30 Years Later, I'm Still Trying To Make Sense Of The MOVE Bombing
2. The History of Policing in the United States
3. A New History Tears Down the Myth of the Texas Rangers
4. American Police Training and Political Violence: From the Philippines Conquest to the Killi...

If you thought police were deadly up till this point, wait until you hear about what unionization did to the U.S. police (hint: it got a hell of a lot of the rest of us killed.)

FOOTNOTES:

1. The History of Policing in the United States
2. Study finds misconduct spreads among police officers like contagion
3. The End of Policing 
4. How Police Unions Became Such Powerful Opponents to Reform Efforts
5. The unjust power of police unions
6. How Poli...

Lynching was the sharpest blade in the arsenal of white supremacy for decades, until American police replaced it with the death penalty. In this episode, Prop and Robert trace the evolution of police torture, and how the legacy of 'the third degree' persists in law enforcement to this day. 

FOOTNOTES:

1. History of the KKK in Oklahoma
2. Tulsa, Oklahoma, Race Riot
3. Tulsa Timeline
4. The Color of the Third Degree: Racism, Police Torture, a...

For years protesters have chanted that the 'cops and klan go hand in hand'. Today, we discuss the very real history behind that, and how it influenced the birth of American policing.

FOOTNOTES:

1. KKK in the PD
2. The Red Summer of 1919, Explained
3. At least 2,000 more black people were lynched by white mobs than previously reported, new research finds
4. Extremist cops: how US law enforcement is failing to police itself
5. Yesterday’s Ku Klu...

When U.S. police departments didn't evolve out of slave patrols, they tended to form out of a desire to protect the property of the wealthy. In practice, this meant beating, murdering and arresting people who didn't want to work 12 hour days until they died.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Krypteia: A Form of Ancient Guerrilla Warfare 
2. The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles
3. The Beginning of American Policing
4. How Stereotypes of the Irish...

Ever wonder how Policing started in the U.S.? In this episode, Robert and Prop trace the bloody birth of American policing, from Ancient Greece, to the slave-holding South, to the streets of Ferguson, Missouri today. 

FOOTNOTES:

1. Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice
2. A Brief History of Slavery and the Origins of American Policing
3. Slave Patrols: An Early Form of American Policing
4. How the U.S. Got Its Police Force
5. Slave Patrols
6. ...

How did American police get so violent? The answer to that question goes back centuries, to the earliest days of this nation. On this special podcast miniseries hosts journalist, Robert Evans and rap artist, Propaganda (Jason Petty) draw a straight line from the darkest days of slavery, to the murder of George Floyd and the mass violence American police meted out to their citizens this summer.