Critical Resistance organizes in various campaigns and projects that challenge the system of policing. Because policing is often the first point of contact our communities have with the prison industrial complex, our work seeks to chip away at the power of policing, reduce its scope in our lives, build alternatives to make it obsolete, and ultimately abolish policing.
In order to abolish policing, Critical Resistance focuses on strategically identifying a key part of the institution of policing to dismantle. We select a high-impact issue to organize around, build coalition of movement partners to come together around abolitionist demands and we work to steadily chip away at the institution of policing.
Our work resisting policing has resulted in many people’s victories over the years. From 2009 to 2013, we fought and won against gang injunctions in Oakland, making it the first city to end gang injunctions as a result of grassroots organizing. In 2019, after a 5 year campaign, we successfully defunded and abolished Urban Shield in the Bay Area, CA, which had been the world’s largest police and SWAT training program. In 2020, we were victorious in defunding and dismantling the Gang Enforcement Team (later named “Gun Violence Reduction Team”) in Portland – which was the police bureau’s racist gang policing unit.
Anti-Policing Campaigns & Projects
Check out our past and present campaigns and projects that work toward abolishing policing and building healthy, sustainable, vibrant and self-determined communities.
Want to learn more about Critical Resistance’s approach to organizing against policing?
Check out our new campaign toolkit for abolishing policing: “Our Communities, Our Solutions,” packed full of numerous resources and tools for developing strong abolitionist, grassroots campaigns against policing.
Chapter Updates
Take Action
Train with Critical Resistance to develop campaigns to abolish policing!
In 2020, Critical Resistance released a new toolkit packed full of resources for building winning anti-policing campaigns.
Request CR members facilitate a two-hour training with your organization or coalition to develop your own campaign to abolish policing in your community.
Resources
Through our campaigns and projects resisting policing, Critical Resistance has generated numerous organizing tools for abolitionists to use in our work against policing, criminalization, and surveillance.
Reformist Reforms vs Abolitionist Reforms to Policing – CHART!
