The head of school security, and a Miami-Dade Police officer stand at the front entrance to the Kenwood K-8 Center on August 24, 2018 in Miami, Florida.

Why Do We Have Cops in Schools?

In the mid-1970s, police officers were in only about 1 percent of US schools. That changed since the late 1990s.
Soldiers in gas masks advance on World War I Bonus March demonstrators in Washington, D.C., July 1932.

How Tear Gas Became a Staple of American Law Enforcement

In 1932, the “Bonus Army” of jobless veterans staged a protest in Washington, DC. The government dispersed them with tear gas.
South African police beating Black women with clubs after they raided and set a beer hall on fire in protest against apartheid, Durban, South Africa, 1959

The South African Experience with Changing the Police from Within

In states transitioning from authoritarianism to democracy, resistance to police abuses can make or break the larger democratic project, explains one social scientist.
Several hundred doctors, nurses and medical professionals come together to protest against police brutality and the death of George Floyd on June 5, 2020 in St Louis, Missouri.

Police Violence Is a Public Health Issue

Research makes the case that people who fear police violence are less likely to seek out health care.
A woman speaking on the phone

Calling the Police, without Trusting the Police

A scholar finds nuanced reasoning among poor Black women facing difficult choices about whether to call the cops.
Three police offers in their precinct office

Is Hiring More Black Officers the Key to Reducing Police Violence?

Diversity among officers lags behind the general population. But is police culture a greater problem when it comes to combating excessive force?
Smoke billowing over Tulsa, Oklahoma during 1921 race riots

Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus

How can we help students understand George Floyd's death in the context of institutionalized racism?
Cartoon showing police brutality against the match makers' demonstration, 1871

The Origins of the Police

Sir Robert Peel is popularly credited with the formation of the first modern municipal police force. But the Thames River Police did it first.
Demonstrating the administration of the polygraph, the polygrapher making notes on the readouts.

The Online Lie Detector Is No Better Than the Polygraph

People love the idea of a machine that tells us who to trust. But the historical analog of the online lie detector also didn't work.
1800s Chicago police

A History of Police Violence in Chicago

At the turn of the century, Chicago police killed 307 people, one in eighteen homicides in the city—three times the body count of local gangsters.