Book Review: Depolicing: When officers disengage

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016819871609
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

now expose police abuse with vary, the message and their later criminalization has been quite similar.

The portrayal of activists whose mission involves uncovering police brutality as criminals is not a

new concept. This, along with rekindled fears about other minorities, has led to another era

focused on get-tough policies that further contribute to institutional racism and perpetuate the “us”

versus “them”divide. Evidently, Felkor-Kantor’s discussion about race and the rise of social move-

ments in Los Angeles at the time continue to ref‌lect current debates about inclusion and citizenship.

Overall, Policing Los Angeles is an eloquently written book that provides evidence to showcase

how a politicized department can alienate and destroy trust and legitimacy by enforcing a racial hier-

archy under a para-militaristic and punitive model. This book should be a must read for all college

students to help contribute to their understanding of law and society. Particularly, it is recommended

for those interested in discussions revolving around race, justice, and politics. Felkor-Kantor’s book

is a somber reminder that people of color, especially Black individuals, cannot back down in the f‌ight

against abuse and systemic racism. In fact, all Americans need to come together to confront the past,

support strong social justice movements, and advocate for criminal justice reform.

Oliver, W. M. (2019). Depolicing: When off‌icers disengage. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. 185 pp. $69.95. ISBN

978-1-6263-7755-4.

Reviewed by: Thaddeus L. Johnson and Natasha N. Johnson, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016819871609

A recent spate of controversial police killings of unarmed Black males (e.g., Michael Brown, Eric

Garner, and Tamir Rice) has reignited the historical discourse surrounding the disproportionate

use of police force against minority citizens. Some commentators have suggested that the Michael

Brown shooting in Ferguson, MO, 5 years ago marked a new era of police–citizen conf‌lict. Since

then, there has been an increasing number of felonious attacks against off‌icers and unprecedented

levels of news media scrutiny of the police.

Given the current state of affairs, it has been widely speculated that off‌icers are reluctant to

perform their jobs. Although not a new allegation just the possibility of “depolicing”—or disengage-

ment from proactive police activities (such as traff‌ic stops) in response to real or perceived external

factors (e.g., politics and personal safety concerns)—has raised public safety concerns. Whether

depolicing is a real thing, however, has been speculative. To gain insights into the realities of depo-

licing, Willard M. Oliver’sDepolicing: When Off‌icers Disengage, as the title suggests, provides a

critical evaluation of depolicing through original qualitative research.

Oliver interviewed 60 police off‌icers and sheriff’s deputies across the nation between 2014 and

2016. Representing a diverse sample, about 20% of the respondents were female, 24% were

non-White, and 15% worked for a sheriff’s department. The average of age and law enforcement

experience was 40 and 14.2 years, respectively.

Broken up into seven chapters (plus an appendix), Oliver’s study centers on three primary ques-

tions: (1) Is depolicing real, and if yes, how pervasive is it? (2) What causes depolicing? (3) And, how

should depolicing be handled? After orienting the reader on the historical and empirical background

of depolicing (Chapters 1 and 2), the relevant concepts and theory are covered in Chapter 3. Apart

from a summary of the f‌indings presented in Chapter 7, the three middle chapters focus on the

research questions at hand.

Chapter 4 considers the off‌icers’views and beliefs about depolicing. Oliver’s conversations with

participants revealed that for the most part, “depolicing is very real.”In response to the question, “Do

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