Copaganda and Consequences: Dismantling Myths About Policing

A Canadian Perspective on Transforming Public Safety Beyond Policing

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As a digital community builder who spends my days connecting Black Canadian creators, I’m always on the lookout for work that challenges us to think differently about the systems we’ve inherited. When I picked up Sandy Hudson’s “Defund: Black Lives, Policing, and Safety for All,” I wasn’t expecting it to transform my understanding of public safety so completely. I found myself sitting with this book for hours, unable to put it down.

Beyond the Headline

Let’s be honest – the title “Defund” might initially raise eyebrows. But Hudson, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Canada, offers something far more nuanced than what fits in a protest sign. Drawing from her background as both an activist and academic with a JD from UCLA School of Law, she traces policing’s troubling origins in colonialism and enslavement while dismantling myths about its effectiveness.

The statistics Hudson presents are staggering: police spend less than 5% of their time on violent crime, and solve less than 2% of serious crimes despite billions in funding. Even more disturbing for us in Toronto, she notes that Black people here are 20 times more likely to be shot by police than white people. These aren’t just American problems.

Who is Sandy Hudson?

Sandy Hudson is a formidable force in Canadian activism and beyond. She founded the Black Lives Matter movement in Canada after being moved to action by the police killings of Mike Brown and Jermaine Carby, organizing a solidarity rally that drew thousands. Working with fellow activist Janaya Khan, she established Black Lives Matter Toronto as the first official chapter outside the United States, connecting with BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors.

Beyond her work with BLM, Hudson co-founded the Black Legal Action Centre, a specialty legal aid clinic providing services for Black communities in Ontario, and the Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism in Toronto. She hosts the popular Canadian political podcast “Sandy and Nora Talk Politics” and is co-editor of the bestselling anthology “Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada.” Currently based in Los Angeles while completing her law degree at UCLA, Hudson has been instrumental in bringing issues like carding and defunding the police into national Canadian conversations.

What makes Hudson’s approach distinctive is her emphasis on care and healing as central to Black liberation. As one profile notes, “She is constantly reminding us that ending state violence against black people is only one step in our struggle, that in order to truly thrive, we need to develop systems that centre black people’s healing and care.”

From Personal to Political

What resonated most with me was Hudson’s refusal to accept the false choice between safety and abolition. As someone who builds digital communities where safety is paramount, I appreciate her emphasis that defunding isn’t about abandoning safety but reimagining it. Her examples of successful alternatives – like Toronto’s Community Crisis Service that diverts mental health calls from police – show that better models already exist.

The book’s exploration of “copaganda” particularly hit home. As someone working in digital media strategy, I’ve seen firsthand how crime reporting and police procedurals shape public perception far more than actual experience. Hudson’s analysis of how media portrays police solving murders while real clearance rates remain dismal challenges us to question narratives we’ve internalized.

Building Different Systems

What makes Hudson’s work essential reading for our community is her focus on solutions. She doesn’t just critique – she envisions. Her discussion of community-based violence interruption programs that have reduced gun violence by up to 60% in some areas offers concrete alternatives to the systems that have failed us.

Hudson’s analysis of how policing criminalizes poverty rather than addressing root causes feels especially relevant. True community safety comes through prevention, investment, and care – not punishment after harm occurs.

Key Takeaways

After reflecting on Hudson’s powerful arguments, here are five essential insights that stayed with me:

1. Origins Matter: Modern policing wasn’t designed for public safety but for controlling marginalized populations. Understanding this history helps explain why reforms consistently fail.
2. Media Distortion: Our perception of policing is shaped more by television than reality. Shows like Law & Order create a fictional world where police primarily solve violent crimes, when in reality they spend most of their time on non-criminal matters.
3. Preventative Alternatives Work: Cities like Portland, Albuquerque, and Toronto have implemented successful non-police emergency response programs for mental health crises with remarkable results and virtually no arrests.
4. Gender-Based Violence: Current policing approaches often fail victims of intimate partner violence, with less than 22% of sexual assaults even being reported to police. Alternative approaches centered on victim needs show more promise.
5. We Don’t Need All the Answers: Hudson emphasizes that we don’t need perfect solutions before beginning to build something better. Just as humanity has innovated in other complex areas, we can reimagine safety through experimentation and community wisdom.

If you’d like to hear more about these ideas directly from Sandy Hudson herself, I recently had the privilege of speaking with her on the Black Canadian Creators podcast. Our conversation get into a few of these concepts and explores what defunding could look like specifically in the Canadian context. You can listen to our discussion at:

Looking Forward

Sandy’s book left me feeling both challenged and hopeful. She presents police abolition not as a distant utopian dream but as an inevitable evolution of how we approach community safety. As Black Canadian creators shaping culture and community, we have a unique role in imagining and building these new systems of care. Like a chess player thinking several moves ahead, Hudson challenges us to envision a different future – one where our communities are truly safe not because of control, but because of how we value and protect each other. That’s a conversation our community needs to have.

What do you think? Have you read Hudson’s book? How do you envision building safer communities? Share your thoughts in the comments.