This article is 100% spot, at least as far as the local component of the police state is concerned, and far as the “criminal law” aspect of statism is concerned. Of course, even at the local level, we could develop a far more comprehensive critique of statism. The role of zoning in creating localized fiefdoms and oligarchies, licensing laws as a means of creating monopolistic professional guilds, the school system as child prisons, and CPS as a component of the wider nanny state aspects of the police state would be just a few examples.

By James Reilly

Recently, Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender was interviewed regarding the Council’s latest political move towards abolition of the local police department. The interview left me underwhelmed. She gave no indication that she was familiar with the technical details of what abolishing the police could look like. I am not surprised by this though. The speed with which the City Council acted to signal willingness to change gave them no time to thoroughly think through the implications of, or a set of reasonable steps to take towards, abolishing the police.

The first point to consider is that, much to my dismay, nobody is talking about getting rid of all publicly funded law enforcement in Minneapolis. As it stands, there are a series of overlapping jurisdictions, of which the local police are only one. Park police, transit police, the County Sheriff’s department, State patrol, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and any number of federal law enforcement agencies will still operate as they always have. Many investigations, arrests, and incarcerations will be handled by essentially the same people handling them now.

Don’t worry Minneapolis City Council, we have you covered! Here are a list of steps you should be seriously considering:

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