Books

Bad cops are the product of bad policy. And policy is ultimately made by politicians. A bad system loaded with bad incentives will unfailingly produce bad cops. The good ones will never enter the field in the first place, or they will become frustrated and leave police work, or they’ll simply turn bad. At best, they’ll have unrewarding, unfulfilling jobs.-- Radley … [Read more...] about Rise of the Warrior Cop – Review Part 5 of 5: Reform

It’s a no-knock raid, Don’t be afraid We’ll shoot your dogs, In front of your kidsCuz we’re the SWAT We’re here for your pot, And all the cash that you got, We are adrenalin junkies taking orders from the top,-- Lindy, "No Knock Raid" 2011(The song is depressing enough, but I should warn you that the link is to the video, which includes graphic footage from … [Read more...] about Rise of the Warrior Cop – Review Part 4 of 5: Violence

I've been writing a series of posts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) that outline some of the themes that Radley Balko explores in Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces. The book itself is far more detailed, with discussions of the political forces that created some of these policies, and lots of descriptions of how they went so very wrong, including … [Read more...] about Rise of the Warrior Cop – Interlude

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”― Upton Sinclair, I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked 1935. I've been doing a close reading of Radley Balko's Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces, and I'm trying to unweave the major narrative threads that explain how … [Read more...] about Rise of the Warrior Cop – Review Part 3 of 5: Perverse Incentives