Behind the Police

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: The History of Policing in the United States Study finds misconduct spreads among police officers like contagion The End of Policing  How Police Unions Became Such Powerful Opponents to Reform Efforts The unjust power of police unions How P...

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: History of the KKK in Oklahoma Tulsa, Oklahoma, Race Riot Tulsa Timeline The Color of the Third Degree: Racism, Police T...

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

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: Krypteia: A Form of Ancient Guerrilla Warfare  The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles The Beginning of American Policing How Stereotypes of ...

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