Colonial Legacies in Contemporary Policing

Sor Juana lived within Spanish colonial structures even as she resisted them intellectually. Many current policing systems are literal descendants of colonial occupation forces—designed to control colonized populations, not serve them. In the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Pacific regions, policing systems imported from colonizing nations often reflect colonial assumptions about who is dangerous, who deserves rights, and whose knowledge counts. This history isn't academic—it shapes current practices. Stop-and-frisk patterns echo colonial surveillance; asset forfeiture echoes colonial extraction; use-of-force standards often reflect colonial priorities protecting property and hierarchy. Decolonizing policing means actively examining and restructuring these inherited systems. It requires hiring officers from historically colonized communities, centering indigenous and traditional justice frameworks, and questioning practices that treat certain populations as inherently suspect. Sor Juana's work within colonial structures while imagining beyond them models this complex negotiation. Decolonial policing doesn't mean rejecting all formal systems—it means consciously rebuilding them on foundations of justice and cultural respect rather than domination.