Episode Details

On the latest episode of One to One with Sheryl McCarthy, Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project, at Brooklyn College, and the CUNY Graduate Center Alex Vitale discusses the legacy of the “defund the police” movement and argues that public safety depends less on armed policing and more on investments in housing, mental health care, drug treatment, and community support programs. He contends that modern policing has roots in controlling marginalized communities, criticizes practices like broken-windows policing and gang databases, and says reforms such as body cameras and expanded police budgets — including increased security spending at City University of New York — fail to meaningfully improve safety. The conversation also explores New York City’s falling crime rates, the role of poverty and inequality in violence, tensions between local and federal policing approaches, and the need for alternative, evidence-based community safety strategies rather than expanding traditional law enforcement.

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