Police Funding, Dark Money, and the Greedy Institution

Book excerpt: Police Funding, Dark Money, and the Greedy Institution is about a pervasive but little-studied phenomenon. Private funding of public police entails private entities sending resources to police through unconventional or hidden channels, sometimes for suspect reasons. The book argues police acquisition of this "dark money" befits the notion of a "greedy institution" that pursues resources beyond ample public funding and needs, and seeks ever more loyal members beyond its traditional boundaries to reproduce itself. The book focuses on private police foundations, corporate sponsorships, and paid detail arrangements primarily in North America, how these funding networks operate and are framed for audiences, and the forms and volumes of capital they generate. Based on interviews with police representatives, sponsors, funders, and foundation representatives as well as records from over 100 police departments, this book examines key issues in private funding of public police, including corporatization, accountability, corruption, and the rule of law. It documents and analyzes the troubling explosion of police foundations and sponsors and corporate paid detail brokers unknown to the public as a social and policy issue and a hidden response to the global police defunding movement. The book also considers potential policy responses and community safety alternatives in a more generous society. An accessible and compelling read, students and scholars in criminology, criminal justice, law, sociology, political science, anthropology, geography, as well as policymakers, will find this timely book revealing of a neglected, growing area of police practice spanning multiple themes and jurisdictions.