Violence Work: State Power and the Limits of Police

by Micol Seigel

In Violence Work Micol Seigel offers a new theorization of the quintessential incarnation of state the police. Foregrounding the interdependence of policing, the state, and global capital, Seigel redefines policing as “violence work,” showing how it is shaped by its role of channeling state violence. She traces this dynamic by examining the formation, demise, and aftermath of the U.S. State Department's Office of Public Safety (OPS), which between 1962 and 1974 specialized in training police forces internationally. Officially a civilian agency, the OPS grew and operated in military and counterinsurgency realms in ways that transgressed the borders that are meant to contain the police within civilian, public, and local spheres. Tracing the career paths of OPS agents after their agency closed, Seigel shows how police practices writ large are rooted in violence—especially against people of color, the poor, and working people—and how understanding police as a civilian, public, and local institution legitimizes state violence while preserving the myth of state benevolence.

Genres: Politics, History, School, Police

312 pages, Hardcover

Published August 27, 2018

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere between 3.5-4 stars. I like the theory, particularly the three myths (police are local, police are public, and police are civilians). I was less interested in the specific OPS case studies.

[Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read and a compelling argument dispelling the myths of policing:
1) police are civilian (not military)
2) police are public (not private)
3) police only work at the local and state levels (and never leave US territory)

Seigel does important and compelling work dispelling these myths!

I found the OPS history/case studies also fascinating. After reading Schrader's book "Badges Without Borders," I had so many questions. His book though was not terribly accessible even though it was filled with nuggets of amazing information about the rise of policing as we know it today. Seigel does what Schrader didn't do: she tells the story in a way that makes sense and includes information/chronology about the LEAA after OPS was disbanded. The newsletter and interviews were also amazing. I'm working with a colleague on an article looking at master narratives and police and some of her discernment about the OPS actors she interviews falls right into this analytical category.

A really impressive bit of writing and, as a former adjunct instructor of criminal justice, one I highly recommend you read!

[Daniel Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent work about a forgotten piece of American history that reverberates today in the debate over law enforcement. The government’s Office of Public Safety trained foreign police in the 1960s and 1970s as a means of advancing U.S. policy in the Cold War. The CIA-directed agency eventually had to be disbanded because of the the abuses that resulted. But the practices, and many of the players, continued after the agency’s demise.