A man was driving in a suburb of St. Paul Minnesota. He was driving with his girlfriend and her four year old. He was stopped by police and pulled over to the side of the road. When officers approached the car, he told them that he had a legally registered firearm in the car, as is the responsible thing to do. The officer then began escalating the situation by yelling at the driver. He shouted for the driver to not reach for his gun, which he was not. Despite the driver’s compliance with the officers orders, the officer then opened fire into the car killing the driver. His name was Philando Castile and while it sounds eerily similar to the stories of Alex Pretti and Rene Good, this happened a decade before. On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was murdered in front of his girlfriend. And in the decade since, the issue has only gotten worse. 

Violent confrontations with law enforcement are not a bug in the justice system; they are a feature. There were only six days in 2025 in which no one was killed by the police. During that time police murdered 98 completely unarmed individuals in the U.S, they weren’t holding anything or behind the wheel of a car. They were totally defenseless against the insurmountable state violence that ended their lives. More than half of the unarmed individuals murdered by police were people of color. Since 2016, Police have consistently killed Black people at almost or more than double the rate of their proportion in the population. The majority of the incidents that resulted in police killing civilians began without a crime being reported or with officers responding to non-violent suspected activity. 

One of the main driving factors behind the increase in police violence and deaths at the hands of police has been increasing police militarization. Since 2001, surplus and used military equipment has found its way into the hands of swat teams and police across the country. In 2020, 65% of law enforcement agencies were given military weapons for free by the U.S. military, costing taxpayers  $7.6 billion since the program’s inception. 

Another dimension of the violence that the police enact is sexual violence. Only 9 states have laws that ban law enforcement from engaging in sexual conduct while on duty. That means that in 41 states a police officer can have sex with civilians while in uniform and being paid with tax pay funds. A further 27 states only prohibit the conduct if the other party is in police custody. It is impossible for anyone to freely consent to an on-duty law enforcement officer because of the inherent power imbalance. Law enforcement typically engages in sexual misconduct in three situations: making traffic stops, preying on children, and engaging with sex work. 

In the first situation, a police officer, typically a highway patrolman, pulls over a female motorist and engages in a quid pro quo. Because of the nature of the power imbalance many of these crimes are not reported for fear or retributions. In cases in which these assaults are reported, more than half resulted in serious injury to the driver. In the second situation, police find vulnerable minors in unstable situations such as foster care, living on the streets, or in police custody, and use force and authority to engage in sexual misconduct. In less than half of these cases, the officer was fired. Police officers also use their position of authority to engage with prostitutes, some of whom are being sex trafficked, to coerce sex. The illegality of sex work removes protections those engaging in it and being targeted by police. Outside of law enforcement officers, corrections officers also have a troubling history of engaging in sexual misconduct with their inmates. In a recent example, an ICE agent sexually assaulted a female detainee having traded sexual favors with  photos and letters from her child.

While the current system has high monetary, moral, and mortality costs, it is not the only way for policing to exist in the United States. Localities in the U.S. –such as Camden County, NJ– have been able to avoid large-scale police violence by providing the skills and tools to more effectively mitigate violence and deescalate situations. While this has been successful elsewhere, to implement policies that would reduce police violence in the U.S. we must dismantle the structures of policing. The Torah commands us saying “Justice Justice you shall pursue” Deuteronomy 16:20. And I think that it is high time to look around and see if we are fulfilling your duty.

Moving past police violence doesn’t simply mean ending the practice. In order to meaningfully create a more just world, it is imperative to actively repair the harm that has been and is currently being perpetuated. There are current models of what reparations for police violence could look like. After investigations uncovered a blacksite operated for more than two decades by the Chicago Police Department, the city has attempted to repair the damage that was caused. The city of Chicago set up financial restitution for the victim, planned for the creation of a monument, included the incident in the curriculum, provided free tuition to city college for the survivors and their family, and created a center to address the psychological effects these events had. There is still work that needs to be done as people that were tortured in the facility are still incarcerated because of their time there; however, Chicago provides proof positive that a more just world is possible.