pt. 1: Crime and punishment. An open letter to a bad cop -- Wage war on crime, not drugs -- Prostitution : get a room! -- Capital punishment : the coward's way out -- Criminals' rights : worth protecting? -- Getting a grip on guns -- Men -- pt. 2: Cop culture. Why white cops kill black men -- Racism in the ranks -- "Split tails" -- Sexual predators in uniform -- The blue wall of silence -- The police image : sometimes a gun is just a gun -- It's not all cops and robbers -- Doughnuts, tacos, and fat cops -- pt. 3: The police department. Demilitarizing the police -- Picking good cops -- Staying alive in a world of sudden, violent death -- Undercover -- pt. 4: Policing the police. Treating cops like kids : police discipline -- A dark take on financial liability -- Up with labor, (not so fast, police unions) -- Living with killing -- Citizen oversight -- pt. 5: The politics of policing. Egos on patrol : Giuliani vs. Bratton -- Marching for dykes on bikes (and against Jesus) -- The fourth estate : a chiefs lament -- Snookered in Seattle : the WTO riots -- Community policing : a radical view -- Cultivating fearless leadership.
Summary:
This volume exposes a troubling culture of racism, sexism, and homophobia that is still pervasive within our twenty-first-century police forces. The author goes on to explore how such prejudices can be addressed. He reveals the dangers and temptations that cops face, describing in detail the split-second life-and-death decisions that police officers make each day. The author draws on lessons learned to present arguments for drug decriminalization, abolition of the death penalty, and radically revised approaches to prostitution and gun control. He offers penetrating insights into the "blue wall of silence," police undercover work, and what it means to kill a man. And, he gives his personal account of the World Trade Organization debacle of 1999, when protests he was in charge of controlling turned violent in the streets of Seattle.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.