Alex Vitale
Professor
Sociology
Location: 3101 James Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x1774
Fax: 718.951.4639
Email:
Alex Vitale is Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project. He has spent the last 30 years writing about policing and consults both police departments and human rights organizations internationally. Prof. Vitale is the author of City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics and The End of Policing. He is also a frequent essayist, whose writings have been published in The NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, Vice News, Fortune, and USA Today. He has also appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, PBS, Democracy Now, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Education:
Ph.D., City University Graduate Center - 2001 (Sociology)
B.A., Hampshire College - 1989 (Urban Studies and Cultural Anthropology)
Areas of Expertise:
Alex Vitale teaches courses in criminology, sociology of law, social movements and political sociology. His research interests include community policing, the policing of demonstrations and civil disorder, urban politics and economics, and social movements.
Books and Publications
"Dix facons d'eviter le recours a la police et de rendre nos collectivites plus sures." In Gwendola Ricordeau ed. 1312 Raisons d'abolir la Police. Lux Editeur. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2023
"Grenzen der Polizeireform." in Abolitionismus: Ein Reader. Suhrkamp Verlag. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2022
"Misguided Strategy: New York City's Decision to Criminalize Gangs." in David Brotherton. ed. Routledge International Handbook of Critical Gang Studies. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2022
"Public Sociology: The Task and the Promise." in Ten Lessons in Introductory Sociology. Oxford University Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2022
"Tompkinsville Park." in A People's Guide to New York City. University of California Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2022
El Final del Control Policial. Capitan Swing. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2021
Fim do Policiamento. Autonomia Literária. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2021
La Fi de Control Policial. Tigre de Paper. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2021
The End of Policing: Updated Edition. Verso. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2021
End of Policing (Korean). Yoonseong Publishing Company. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2020
The End of Policing. (Mandarin). Zhejiang University Press (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2020
"Houston Police Want to Target Gang Violence, It Won't Work." Houston Chronicle. January 29, (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
"The Limits of Police Reform," in Walter S. DeKeseredy and Elliott Currie eds. Progressive Justice in an Age of Repression:Strategies for Challenging the Rise of the Right. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2019
The End of Policing. Verso Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2018
Vitale, Alex S. and Brian Jordan Jefferson. 2016. ?The Emergence of Command and Control Policing in Neoliberal New York.? In Jordan T. Camp and Christina Heatherton eds. Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter. New York: Verso. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2016
"At Last Night?s Solidarity March, the NYPD ?Came Out Swinging.?" The Nation. April 30, 2015. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"DOJ report fails to address Ferguson?s major problems: Community policing reforms will not help communities of color." Al Jazeera America. March 12, 2015. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"Don?t count on Loretta Lynch to tame the police." Al Jazeera America. April 30, 2015. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"Obama?s Police Reforms Ignore the Most Important Cause of Police Misconduct." The Nation. March 6, 2015. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"Two Very Different Ways to Punish Killer Cops" The Nation. May 5, 2015. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"Why are New York cops shaming homeless people?" Al Jazeera America. August 16, 2015. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"A Short History of Cops Terrorizing Students." The Nation. October 28, 2015. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"No, Protests Against Police Brutality Are Not Increasing Crime." The Nation. September 3, 2015. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"5 Books: Who Polices the Police?" The Nation. December 23, 2014. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2014
"How to End Militarized Policing: We can undo the policies facilitating police violence in Ferguson." The Nation, Aug. 18. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"Jammed Up: Bad Cops, Police Misconduct, and the New York City Police Department." Contemporary Sociology 43:5, September. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2014
"Paying in Blood for Over-policing: Broken Windows is the new Stop and Frisk." The Daily News, July 18. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"Suited for Subversion (Ralph Borland)." Design and Violence. Museum of Modern Art. Oct. 1. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"The Neoconservative Roots of the Broken Windows Theory." Gotham Gazette, Aug. 1. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"The Rise of Command and Control Protest Policing in New York City." The New York City Police Department: The Impact of Its Policies and Practices. Eds. John Eterno and Eli Silverman. CRC Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2014
"Urban Radicalism: A Review of Harvey's Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolutions." Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 25:1, March. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2014
"What Does it Mean to be Anti-Police?" The Nation. December 23, 2014. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
Review of Jammed Up: Bad Cops, Police Misconduct, and the New York City Police Department. In Contemporary Sociology. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2014
"Repressive Coverage in an Authoritarian Context: Threat, Weakness, and Legitimacy in South Korea's Democracy Movement." Mobilization: An International Journal 18.1: 19-39. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2013
Review of The Policing Web, by Jean-Paul Brodeur. Social Forces 90.4. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2013
"NYPD Greets Evidence of Mishandling of Occupy Protests With Shameful Closed-Door Policy." AlterNet. Aug. 7. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
Review of Shut Down the Streets: Political Violence and Social Control in the Global Era, by Amory Starr, Luis Fernandez and Christian Scholl. Working USA 15:3, September: 453-55. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2012
"Direct Action Gets the Goods." Civic Institute [Instytut Obywatelski]. Warsaw, Poland (in Polish), Oct. 14. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2011
"NYPD and OWS: A Clash of Styles." Occupy!: Scenes from Occupied America. New York: Verso Books. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
Vitale, A., H. Kim and N. Choi. "A Case Study on the Korean National Police's G20 Protest Policing." The Journal of Police Policies 25.2, December: 27-53. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
"The Politics of Protest Policing." Sociologists in Action: Sociology, Social Change, and Social Justice. Eds. Kathleen Korgen, Jonathan White and Shelly White. Pine Forge Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2010
"The Safer Cities Initiative and the Removal of the Homeless: Reducing Crime or Promoting Gentrification on LA's Skid Row." Criminology and Public Policy, November. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2010
"Policing Protests in New York City." Urbanization, Policing and Security: Global Perspectives. Eds. Gary Cordner and Dilip K. Das. Boca Raton, Fla.: Taylor and Francis. 275-300. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2009
City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics. NYU Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2008
"The Command and Control and Miami Models at the 2004 Republican National Convention: New Forms of Policing Protests." Mobilization 12.4, December. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2007
"From Negotiated Management to Command and Control: How the New York Police Department Polices Protests." Policing and Society 15: 283-304. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2005
"Innovation and Institutionalization: Factors in the Development of 'Quality of Life' Policing in New York City." Policing and Society 15: 99-124. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2005
"Rights and Wrongs at the RNC: A Special Report About Police and Protest at the Republican National Convention" contributor. New York Civil Liberties Union. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2005
Review of Reclaiming the Streets: Surveillance, Social Control and the City, by Roy Coleman. Contemporary Sociology. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2004
"Arresting Protest: A Special Report of the NYCLU on NYC's Protest Policies at the 2/15/03 Antiwar Demonstration in NYC" contributor. New York Civil Liberities Union. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2003
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Vital Projects Fund, The Politics of Policing and Climate Change. $45,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2023
BRESI Student Research Mentoring Project $18,000 (Grants and Fellowships) 2022
Police Free Schools, Antelope Valley, Movement For Black Lives. $21,000 (Grants and Fellowships) 2022
Vital Projects Fund: Policing and Social Justice Project. $115,000 (Grants and Fellowships) 2022
Vital Projects Fund: Policing and Social Justice Project. $175,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
Vital Projects Fund: gang Policing in New York City. $200,000 (Grants and Fellowships) 2018
PSC-CUNY grant Research assistant on ?The Limits of Policing: Improving Public Safety without Coercion. $3,500. (Grants and Fellowships) 2015
Herbert Kurz Chair Student Research Assistant project support for "Abolitionist Policing." (Grants and Fellowships) 2014
"Citizen of the City Award" Police Reform Organizing Project, Urban Justice Center. June 6. (Awards and Honors) 2013
Tow Travel Award, for "Policing the G20." (Grants and Fellowships) 2012
Fulbright Scholar Fellowship, for "Public Order Policing in Seoul, South Korea." (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
PSC-CUNY Research Grant, for "Evaluating the Community Justice Model: The Brooklyn Justice Project." (Grants and Fellowships) 2000
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Alternatives to Policing." "Breaking Broken Windows Conference" CUNY Graduate Center. April 7. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
"On Resisting Arrest" Policing and Mass Incarceration. La Guardia Community College. April 14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"The Thin Blue Line: Policing Post Ferguson." St. Louis University School of Law:February 20, 2015. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"To Protect and Serve? Broken Windows Policing, Gentrification, and the Murder of Eric Garner." College of Staten Island: February 10, 2015. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"Ferguson Is Everywhere: Policing and the Criminalization of Communities of Color." Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, Fordham University School of Law. January 20, 2015. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"Reducing the Impact of Policing on NJ Communities." November 18, 2015. New Jersey State League of Municipalities. Atlantic City, NJ. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"The Indignities of Overpolicing: Micro Regulation and the Changing Nature of Police Violence." Violence and the City. May 8: Murphy Institute, CUNY (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"The Limits of Liberal Police Reforms" County College of Morris. April 9, 2015. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"From Staten Island to Ferguson: The Crisis of Police Legitimacy in (Post) Racial America." The Wolfe Institute for the Humanities. Brooklyn College. Oct. 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"Race, Police Use of Force, and the Law." Adelphi University," Garden City, NY December 8, 2014. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"The Conservative Roots of Broken Windows Policing." Police Reform Organizing Project. Ethical Culture Society. July 31. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"The Political Landscape of Policing Reform in New York City." Conversations with City Breakfast Series. Colin Powell Center. University Club. March 13. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"The Roots of Broken Windows Policing." VOCAL-NY. Aug. 28. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"Are We Safer? Costs, Benefits and Alternatives to 20 Years of Aggressive Street Policing Tactics." Herbert Kurz Panel. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Building the Legitimacy of Human Rights Fact Finding: International Human Rights Fact-finding in the Twenty-first Century." Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU Law School. Nov. 2. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Managing Defiance: The Policing of the Occupy Movement." Law and Society Association. Boston. May 30. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"Managing Defiance: The Policing of the Occupy Wall Street Movement." Eastern Sociological Society. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"New York's Crime Decline in the Age of Stop and Frisk." Museum of the City of New York. May 8. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Stop and Think: Guest Panel on Stop and Frisk." The Student-Alumni Association of Empire State College. SUNY Empire State. April 25. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Managing Defiance: Protest Policing and the Occupy Wall Street Movement." Vera Institute of Justice. New York, Feb. 15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Occupy Wall Street and the Right to Protest: What's Next?" New School for Social Research. New York, Oct. 26. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"OWS and the Right to Protest, a Sociological Perspective." Benjamin N. Cordozo School of Law. New York, Jan. 24. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Policing the Occupy Protests: How Well Did Cities Respond." Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service, Suffolk Law School. March 7. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"An Analysis of Protest Policing by the Korean National Police During the G20 Summit in November 2010." International Symposium on the Korean National Police's G20 Public Order Policing. Korean National Police University. Feb. 21. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"Homelessness in New York City: From Short-term Emergency to Entrenched Social Problem." Yonsei University Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Police Innovation in Seoul, South Korea." Society for the Study of Social Problems. San Francisco. Aug. 9. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"The New Urban Punitiveness: The Rise of Anti-homeless Policies in San Francisco." American Sociological Association. Boston, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
Professional Leadership
Appointed to the New York State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2013
Other Professional Activities
"The Civil Rights Implications of "Broken Windows" Policing in NYC and General NYPD Accountability to the Public." New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. March. 2018
