Season 2 Episode 18: Dr. Jim Nolan on Police Reform

With tensions regarding police violence on the rise, we’ve seen lots of conversation about how to reform policing or even redistribute funding from certain areas of police activity to other types of support agencies. But former police officer Dr. Jim Nolan, professor of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University and author of two in-depth books on police reform, says the real solution goes beyond catch phrases and hashtags to a fundamental re-thinking of what police departments should—and should not—actually be about. In this episode Jim talks with Joe and Brandon about how a fundamental shift from a strict focus on law enforcement to one built on social contexts could really make our communities safer and even improve both mental and physical health for people.