What do you think?
Rate this book
An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in America
A WASHINGTON POST BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF 2023
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF 2023
“With illuminating, vivid, and meticulous prose, Edwin Raymond delivers an extraordinary exposé on policing in America . . . An essential, exceptional work.”
—Toluse Olorunnipa, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of His Name Is George Floyd
From the highest-ranking whistleblower in NYPD history, a gripping insider look at the complexities of modern policing and the urgent need for reform
Over his decade and a half with the New York Police Department, Edwin Raymond consistently exposed the dark underbelly of modern policing, becoming the highest-ranking whistleblower in the history of the force and one of the country’s leading voices against police injustice. Offering a rare, often shocking view of American policing, An Inconvenient Cop pulls back the curtain on the many flaws woven into the NYPD’s training, data, and practices, which have since been repackaged and repurposed by police departments across the country.
Gravitating toward law enforcement in the hope of being a positive influence in his community, Raymond quickly learned that the problem with policing is a lot deeper than merely “a few bad apples”—the entire mechanism is set up to ensure that racial profiling is rewarded, and there are weighty consequences for cops who don’t play along. Struggling with the moral dilemma of policing impartially while witnessing his fellow officers go with the flow, Raymond’s journey takes him to the precipice of personal and professional ruin. Yet, through it all, he remains steadfast in his commitment to justice and his belief in the potential for change.
At once revelatory and galvanizing, An Inconvenient Cop courageously bears witness to and exposes institutional violence. It presents a vision of radical hope and makes the case for a world in which the police’s responsibility is not to arrest numbers but to the people.
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF 2023
“With illuminating, vivid, and meticulous prose, Edwin Raymond delivers an extraordinary exposé on policing in America . . . An essential, exceptional work.”
—Toluse Olorunnipa, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of His Name Is George Floyd
From the highest-ranking whistleblower in NYPD history, a gripping insider look at the complexities of modern policing and the urgent need for reform
Over his decade and a half with the New York Police Department, Edwin Raymond consistently exposed the dark underbelly of modern policing, becoming the highest-ranking whistleblower in the history of the force and one of the country’s leading voices against police injustice. Offering a rare, often shocking view of American policing, An Inconvenient Cop pulls back the curtain on the many flaws woven into the NYPD’s training, data, and practices, which have since been repackaged and repurposed by police departments across the country.
Gravitating toward law enforcement in the hope of being a positive influence in his community, Raymond quickly learned that the problem with policing is a lot deeper than merely “a few bad apples”—the entire mechanism is set up to ensure that racial profiling is rewarded, and there are weighty consequences for cops who don’t play along. Struggling with the moral dilemma of policing impartially while witnessing his fellow officers go with the flow, Raymond’s journey takes him to the precipice of personal and professional ruin. Yet, through it all, he remains steadfast in his commitment to justice and his belief in the potential for change.
At once revelatory and galvanizing, An Inconvenient Cop courageously bears witness to and exposes institutional violence. It presents a vision of radical hope and makes the case for a world in which the police’s responsibility is not to arrest numbers but to the people.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 17, 2023
55 people are currently reading
1534 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
December 14, 2024
As a teacher, I realize that in many ways I am a cog in a much bigger machine. When we get some new assignment or a decision made about ANYTHING related to teaching, my colleagues and I will joke, "You know who they didn't ask? Me - the teacher!"
It seems Raymond felt similarly in his job as a member of the prestigious NYPD. What Raymond believed his job would be and what he actually was asked to do did not align. Raymond often found himself in a broom closet in the subway station looking through a tiny window to catch people jumping the turnstile. It was all a numbers game: get the citations and get a specific number of arrests and you were golden. Raymond felt that by being on the subway platform and being visible would help prevent crime, but his fellow officers blindly followed the system of numbers: cogs in a machine.
Raymond soon felt resistance by his higher ups when he didn't play the numbers game. He is passed up for promotions even though his scores for moving up put him in the one percentile of applicants. He becomes part of a lawsuit against the NYPD and is even in a documentary about the use of numbers to meet quotas.
Raymond grew up the first generation of Haitian parents. He lost his mother to cancer and his father struggled to take care of him and his siblings. Raymond's interactions with police in his neighborhood were not always positive. His motivation to become an officer was to change this perception of the NYPD in the community. Raymond finds out soon enough that isn't how the system works.
There is so much to unpack in this one. I found myself agreeing with much of what he said and also know that when numbers are the end goal (similar to state testing), it isn't a measure of how well someone does their job. Raymond knew this and tried to change it, but was thwarted at every turn.
A fascinating look at the NYPD from someone that knows it from the inside.
It seems Raymond felt similarly in his job as a member of the prestigious NYPD. What Raymond believed his job would be and what he actually was asked to do did not align. Raymond often found himself in a broom closet in the subway station looking through a tiny window to catch people jumping the turnstile. It was all a numbers game: get the citations and get a specific number of arrests and you were golden. Raymond felt that by being on the subway platform and being visible would help prevent crime, but his fellow officers blindly followed the system of numbers: cogs in a machine.
Raymond soon felt resistance by his higher ups when he didn't play the numbers game. He is passed up for promotions even though his scores for moving up put him in the one percentile of applicants. He becomes part of a lawsuit against the NYPD and is even in a documentary about the use of numbers to meet quotas.
Raymond grew up the first generation of Haitian parents. He lost his mother to cancer and his father struggled to take care of him and his siblings. Raymond's interactions with police in his neighborhood were not always positive. His motivation to become an officer was to change this perception of the NYPD in the community. Raymond finds out soon enough that isn't how the system works.
There is so much to unpack in this one. I found myself agreeing with much of what he said and also know that when numbers are the end goal (similar to state testing), it isn't a measure of how well someone does their job. Raymond knew this and tried to change it, but was thwarted at every turn.
A fascinating look at the NYPD from someone that knows it from the inside.
January 3, 2025
This book is so important.
PLEASE do yourself a favor and read this book.
I learned so much about the way the police system still incentivizes quotas even though they have “officially” been removed. These quotas are set up to target people of color, especially poor people of color, putting them into the system for minor infractions and then making a point of keeping them in that system, negatively impacting their lives and the quality of life in their communities.
Edwin Raymond is the real deal. He is the highest ranked whistleblower of the NYPD and there’s a damn good reason he was so highly ranked. This man worked his ass off and climbed those ranks while not engaging in the quotas, which nearly cost him his job multiple times. He believes in the good in people. He expects and believes that people can do better, from kids skipping school to elected officials taking bribes. Edwin is calling for change in the police system because he believes that police and their communities can work together to achieve justice.
Edwin is a passionate advocate for his community and an activist for systemic police reform.
This book is equal parts: moving memoir, police education, and hopeful activism.
Read it. Learn it. Gift it. Talk about it.
PLEASE do yourself a favor and read this book.
I learned so much about the way the police system still incentivizes quotas even though they have “officially” been removed. These quotas are set up to target people of color, especially poor people of color, putting them into the system for minor infractions and then making a point of keeping them in that system, negatively impacting their lives and the quality of life in their communities.
Edwin Raymond is the real deal. He is the highest ranked whistleblower of the NYPD and there’s a damn good reason he was so highly ranked. This man worked his ass off and climbed those ranks while not engaging in the quotas, which nearly cost him his job multiple times. He believes in the good in people. He expects and believes that people can do better, from kids skipping school to elected officials taking bribes. Edwin is calling for change in the police system because he believes that police and their communities can work together to achieve justice.
Edwin is a passionate advocate for his community and an activist for systemic police reform.
This book is equal parts: moving memoir, police education, and hopeful activism.
Read it. Learn it. Gift it. Talk about it.
December 25, 2023
Looking for a good book to read that is part memoir and part socio-analysis? Edwin is the pride of his Haitian-American community when he joins the NYPD as a young man. But he quickly notices major flaws in the system that could be easily resolved with a fresh mindset. After 15 years of service, he explains where the system fails and how it can be reformed. This book has been described as "a vision of radical hope" - and who doesn't need some of that?
June 19, 2024
this was enlightening, i never knew how deep these problems extended (and i guess neither did raymond until he witnessed it firsthand). incredibly written
January 11, 2024
very very very good and eye opening read
April 14, 2025
I came across this book by chance and I am so glad I did. This book is written by a man who grew up in NYC and became a police officer in his city with the hope of contributing to and improving his community. He faced a lot of adversity and resistance when he refused to play the quota game and other unethical practices. The stories he tells of fellow officers citing and arresting young people for the most ridiculous things are simply appalling. His reflections while working during the BLM movement(s) are important and telling. This book helped me understand why we have so many people of color being hurt and killed by police- it's not a "bad apple" but the whole barrel is fundamentally flawed. I really appreciated him including his life story before becoming a cop- it was fascinating to learn how he experienced and saw the world, how reading influential books, and his choices to start working all led him to develop such a strong character.
One of my favorite quotes/passages, "The present never sees itself on the continuum of history. Everyone thinks they're living the endgame. We need to have the foresight to see that we're living some future history and get people to understand how they're currently suppressing progress."
One of my favorite quotes/passages, "The present never sees itself on the continuum of history. Everyone thinks they're living the endgame. We need to have the foresight to see that we're living some future history and get people to understand how they're currently suppressing progress."
June 13, 2024
Absolutely essential; something that everyone should read.
July 24, 2025
seething.
February 25, 2024
A very important and insightful reading
May 5, 2024
In An Inconvenient Cop, Edwin Raymond asks what a police force should do: (a) create and promote safe and secure communities or (b) make arrests and justify their ongoing employment.
Raymond, a young dreadlocked Black man, was a member of the NYPD during the period described in An Inconvenient Cop. He entered the police force idealistic, hoping to prevent crime, in a system that rewarded its members for writing summons and making arrests, especially for small, nuisance crimes (e.g., jumping a subway turnstile or littering), and discouraged officers from making felony arrests.
Doesn't make sense, right? – unless you subscribe to the largely discredited Broken Windows theory (that visible signs of disorder and misbehavior in an environment encourage further disorder and misbehavior, leading to more serious crimes). If subscribing to the Broken Windows theory, you want to make many nuisance arrests (to "clean up" a neighborhood). And, if you are in a leadership position, you want few felony arrests (to demonstrate that the community is now safer).
There are several problems with this approach to policing. Especially in the US, such policing, often takes place on the backs of black and brown people, which then creates problematic policing, distrust between communities and the police force, and likely future crime and community dysfunction. As Van Cleve (2016) argues, "Racially disproportionate incarceration contributes to a cycle of poverty, growing structural inequality, and higher (rather than lower) crime rates” (p. 2).
I like, in theory, assessing the police department – or any organization or change project – by counting desired behaviors (e.g., arrests). As Raymond described here and probably many of us have experienced, people and organizations move toward the reinforcers, even though achieving the reinforced behavior may cause other problems. "When you measure people based on a number, they are going to make achieving the number their goal" (p. 318). They are going to make achieving the number their goal rather than doing the right thing.
Over a period of 14 years, Raymond tried to create changes in New York's police department, to occasional applause and much more frequent criticism and harassment. Nonetheless, he has been doing the right thing and attempting to get the rest of us to fall in line.
Raymond, a young dreadlocked Black man, was a member of the NYPD during the period described in An Inconvenient Cop. He entered the police force idealistic, hoping to prevent crime, in a system that rewarded its members for writing summons and making arrests, especially for small, nuisance crimes (e.g., jumping a subway turnstile or littering), and discouraged officers from making felony arrests.
Doesn't make sense, right? – unless you subscribe to the largely discredited Broken Windows theory (that visible signs of disorder and misbehavior in an environment encourage further disorder and misbehavior, leading to more serious crimes). If subscribing to the Broken Windows theory, you want to make many nuisance arrests (to "clean up" a neighborhood). And, if you are in a leadership position, you want few felony arrests (to demonstrate that the community is now safer).
There are several problems with this approach to policing. Especially in the US, such policing, often takes place on the backs of black and brown people, which then creates problematic policing, distrust between communities and the police force, and likely future crime and community dysfunction. As Van Cleve (2016) argues, "Racially disproportionate incarceration contributes to a cycle of poverty, growing structural inequality, and higher (rather than lower) crime rates” (p. 2).
I like, in theory, assessing the police department – or any organization or change project – by counting desired behaviors (e.g., arrests). As Raymond described here and probably many of us have experienced, people and organizations move toward the reinforcers, even though achieving the reinforced behavior may cause other problems. "When you measure people based on a number, they are going to make achieving the number their goal" (p. 318). They are going to make achieving the number their goal rather than doing the right thing.
Over a period of 14 years, Raymond tried to create changes in New York's police department, to occasional applause and much more frequent criticism and harassment. Nonetheless, he has been doing the right thing and attempting to get the rest of us to fall in line.
November 22, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. While I have read a lot on this subject, the author's personal experiences bring life to many of the blindspots that people are unaware of when it comes to how tge police force operates.
This book gets out of the dominant discourse of BLM vs. The Police and shows both intended and unintended consequences of our politicians and the policies they support. The author explains the ways police forces coached/enforced policies that do not deter crime. Instead, they look for petty crimes to ensure they are achieving targets to support the prision-industrial complex and numbers that support whatever narrative they are trying to tell for their own self-interest.
The first-person narrative is relatable and courageous. I couldn't put this one down.
This book gets out of the dominant discourse of BLM vs. The Police and shows both intended and unintended consequences of our politicians and the policies they support. The author explains the ways police forces coached/enforced policies that do not deter crime. Instead, they look for petty crimes to ensure they are achieving targets to support the prision-industrial complex and numbers that support whatever narrative they are trying to tell for their own self-interest.
The first-person narrative is relatable and courageous. I couldn't put this one down.
November 26, 2023
This book is a must read!! A look inside how the not only the NYPD run things but police departments across the US. How our black and brown friends are being mass incarcerated. The whole system needs to be dismantled and this book is proof!!
November 7, 2023
And the fight still goes on regarding policing in America. This was an outstanding account of the insidious practices, in particular, of the NYPD, by one of their own. A must read in my opinion.
November 13, 2023
Engaging, enraging, encouraging. This book is for everyone. Especially for my ultra conservative and ultra liberal peeps and everyone in between. I hope it helps shed light in some way for you.
January 22, 2024
A critical analysis of the problems within policing from a former NYPD officer and one of its most important whistle-blowers.
June 26, 2025
The work Edwin Raymond has accomplished during his tenure at NYPD is remarkable and impressive. As someone who knows nothing about policing other than what I experience in life, this was a great entry into the world of the paramilitary that is our police force. Raymond blew the whistle on COMSTAT and the racial preferences superiors were pressuring officers into arresting. I think this book was an interesting take on a police officers work, but like anyone I don’t think Raymond is immune to police propaganda.
My main issue with this book is the contradiction between the policing Raymond desires for his community and the reality of policing in America. I’m not sure that the ideas he wants are possible in the force that exists today. The police were never meant to be the ones you run to for help or the force that helps grandma across the street. They were only implemented to protect rich white land owners and to catch slaves. So his recommendations for changing the police department inside out feel hollow, especially since the force was trying to push him out every chance they could. Raymond’s main arguments for keeping a police force are that police are pillars of the community that pick up the slack of social services. I know that’s true as I see it in my own city, but im not sure that’s a strong enough argument to keep waiting for slow police reform. Seems counter productive to use police to solve these issues since police are the absolute enforcer. It’s similar to bringing a hammer down on a thumb tack. It works but it could break the dry wall or I smash my hand, when a less extreme option can work just as well with less casualties.
Overall his story about his childhood and using it to make parallels to his career in the police force was interesting. This narrative kept me hooked through the heavy topics discussed. I think this is a great introduction to policing in America and it gives me a great foundation to look further into this topic. I also learned a lot about Haiti which was another bonus!
My main issue with this book is the contradiction between the policing Raymond desires for his community and the reality of policing in America. I’m not sure that the ideas he wants are possible in the force that exists today. The police were never meant to be the ones you run to for help or the force that helps grandma across the street. They were only implemented to protect rich white land owners and to catch slaves. So his recommendations for changing the police department inside out feel hollow, especially since the force was trying to push him out every chance they could. Raymond’s main arguments for keeping a police force are that police are pillars of the community that pick up the slack of social services. I know that’s true as I see it in my own city, but im not sure that’s a strong enough argument to keep waiting for slow police reform. Seems counter productive to use police to solve these issues since police are the absolute enforcer. It’s similar to bringing a hammer down on a thumb tack. It works but it could break the dry wall or I smash my hand, when a less extreme option can work just as well with less casualties.
Overall his story about his childhood and using it to make parallels to his career in the police force was interesting. This narrative kept me hooked through the heavy topics discussed. I think this is a great introduction to policing in America and it gives me a great foundation to look further into this topic. I also learned a lot about Haiti which was another bonus!
October 6, 2024
A must read for everyone. This really changes the perspective of how we look at policing. While I think there is part of the American population that fully recognizes the problems within police departments, this book illustrates that the issues we face are deeply ingrained into the fabric of the system.
The author starts the book deeply personal as he shares loss and love during his childhood. This approach offers us a look into the man beyond the uniform and gives a deeper understanding into who he is.
One of my favorite things about the book is how well the story telling is. It doesn’t read like fiction with a bunch of heavy text. It felt personable. I alternated between the audiobook (the author narrates) and the physical copy which gave me a more immersive reading experience. I felt like we were sitting on the deck and he was sharing his life experiences but also giving me insight into a world from a different lens. The author helped me understand that it is much deeper than “a few bad apples”. It is truly a system and then individuals that uphold that system with threats and retaliation for anyone that dares challenge it.
I applaud Edwin Raymond’s courage to tell this story. This was so enlightening. At times it is a difficult read. While “we” have always known some of the things in this book, seeing it in black & white and realizing that it is a strategy is simultaneously frightening and validating. As such, some may need to be in the right head space to read a book that confirms all that we knew and lets us know it is worst than we imagined.
The author starts the book deeply personal as he shares loss and love during his childhood. This approach offers us a look into the man beyond the uniform and gives a deeper understanding into who he is.
One of my favorite things about the book is how well the story telling is. It doesn’t read like fiction with a bunch of heavy text. It felt personable. I alternated between the audiobook (the author narrates) and the physical copy which gave me a more immersive reading experience. I felt like we were sitting on the deck and he was sharing his life experiences but also giving me insight into a world from a different lens. The author helped me understand that it is much deeper than “a few bad apples”. It is truly a system and then individuals that uphold that system with threats and retaliation for anyone that dares challenge it.
I applaud Edwin Raymond’s courage to tell this story. This was so enlightening. At times it is a difficult read. While “we” have always known some of the things in this book, seeing it in black & white and realizing that it is a strategy is simultaneously frightening and validating. As such, some may need to be in the right head space to read a book that confirms all that we knew and lets us know it is worst than we imagined.
September 24, 2024
This book is a must read. It is an inside look at how some police officers are incentivized to "police" certain communities to make themselves look good and like they are fighting crime. When in actuality they are manufacturing stats that don't reflect reality in order to perpetuate tired stereotypes. It upends the false narrative that Black and brown communities have more criminals and therefore need more enforcement, when police are criminalizing people by pursuing petty crimes and summons to meet quotas specifically in those communities. If other (read white) communities received this type of enforcement, all of a sudden there would be a lot of criminal activity in Their neighborhoods as well. What was even worse was that the author describes instances where police modify reports and statements of witnesses to downgrade a charge in order to keep the bad crime numbers low, thus letting people doing more serious crime off with less or no punishment. I recommend this to everyone, and hope this type of system stops. I plan on watching the documentary as well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2025
The introduction to this book comes in real hot, with a very polemical tone and a lot of academic jargon that I found a bit off-putting. However, that tone is luckily not representative of the writing style of the book itself, which I found to be fairly accessible and nuanced, with arguments that were well-supported by Raymond’s experiences, first as a Black, male teenager in a poor neighborhood, and then as an NYPD member of service who got to see exactly how the department operated from the inside.
I didn’t agree with every argument that he made (for example, although racial profiling and biased policing clearly still happen, I don’t agree that police departments or the criminal justice system are part of an intentional conspiracy to keep Black people down), but I did find myself agreeing with a surprising amount of his arguments, like the problems with measuring success using outputs, like numbers and categories of arrests instead of outcomes, like trends in crime and safety within a precinct. I also appreciated his willingness to gently push back on knee-jerk demonization of the police and instead encourages an overhaul of the incentive structure the police operate under. It was nice to read such a recent account of how the NYPD functions and the changes that still need to be made.
I didn’t agree with every argument that he made (for example, although racial profiling and biased policing clearly still happen, I don’t agree that police departments or the criminal justice system are part of an intentional conspiracy to keep Black people down), but I did find myself agreeing with a surprising amount of his arguments, like the problems with measuring success using outputs, like numbers and categories of arrests instead of outcomes, like trends in crime and safety within a precinct. I also appreciated his willingness to gently push back on knee-jerk demonization of the police and instead encourages an overhaul of the incentive structure the police operate under. It was nice to read such a recent account of how the NYPD functions and the changes that still need to be made.
August 2, 2024
I applaud the author for having the courage to have this tough conversation. The public has been asking for a very long time, "where are the good cops?", and this book comes directly from one of the good ones. This piece gives the reader deeper insight into just who Edwin Raymond is, as a black man, as a cop, as a lover of his community, as an intellect wanting to effect change... This was an excellent memoir that was an eye opener to the ins and outs of what policing in America is to this day. You won't regret reading it.
February 15, 2025
A must read!
March 13, 2025
This is a must read. Hearing Edwin’s experience and perspective taught me specifics of police corruption and I enjoyed his perspective on reform.
March 28, 2024
This should be required reading for every police academy in the country.
April 21, 2024
This book was hard to put down. A disturbing, concrete description of how broken windows policing has cemented racism and failed to protect neighborhoods. Intriguing insights into the means to fix our policing. Would highly recommend.
April 27, 2024
This book is so important.
January 21, 2024
I can't tell you how much this book has affected my opinion about policing. We've all heard of systemic racism but this goes deep into the bowels of the NYPD from one of their own to show that the racist cop you may encounter on the street is likely just doing what they are told. It's all about policies created and enforced by the higher-ups. Yes, there are racist cops as every industry has people who dislike other races. But are ALL cops racist? This is why this book is important to read to understand how this occurs. It's a rot that comes from inside and the victims are poor neighborhoods and black and brown citizens who are doing nothing but trying to live their lives in peace.
Edwin is a very talented writer (and narrator as I listened to the Audible version of this book). He is extremely smart, quick witted, and seems like a person I would like to meet and get to know. After listening to this book, I feel as if everything he said should just be common knowledge. I had a moment where I was thinking, "Wait a minute....this all makes sense! How come no one else has thought of this?!"
But as we all know; racism whether simmering in an individual or festering in an organization, it's tough to overcome. No amount of begging, pleading, incentivizing, debating, etc is enough to take it away. It needs the perseverance of groups of individuals who are dedicated to the cause to go in and change policies, laws, and perceptions. Defunding the police isn't the right answer; it's changing the racist policies that educate and inform officers who are on the streets making arrests.
This book isn't just about the NYPD. Systemic racism exists everywhere. The medical field, tech industry, justice system (as a whole), education system, are just to name a few. Even small organizations may be able to find a policy or two that point to systemic racism. (Hint: If the company you work for doesn't allow someone to wear dreads or hijabs, that's a racist policy.)
I rarely give 5-star ratings to the books I read but this one deserves it. If I could add more stars, I would. Thanks, Mr. Raymond for your story and for being brave enough to fight the powers that be within the department and then for sharing your experience with the world. Keep on keeping on!!!
Edwin is a very talented writer (and narrator as I listened to the Audible version of this book). He is extremely smart, quick witted, and seems like a person I would like to meet and get to know. After listening to this book, I feel as if everything he said should just be common knowledge. I had a moment where I was thinking, "Wait a minute....this all makes sense! How come no one else has thought of this?!"
But as we all know; racism whether simmering in an individual or festering in an organization, it's tough to overcome. No amount of begging, pleading, incentivizing, debating, etc is enough to take it away. It needs the perseverance of groups of individuals who are dedicated to the cause to go in and change policies, laws, and perceptions. Defunding the police isn't the right answer; it's changing the racist policies that educate and inform officers who are on the streets making arrests.
This book isn't just about the NYPD. Systemic racism exists everywhere. The medical field, tech industry, justice system (as a whole), education system, are just to name a few. Even small organizations may be able to find a policy or two that point to systemic racism. (Hint: If the company you work for doesn't allow someone to wear dreads or hijabs, that's a racist policy.)
I rarely give 5-star ratings to the books I read but this one deserves it. If I could add more stars, I would. Thanks, Mr. Raymond for your story and for being brave enough to fight the powers that be within the department and then for sharing your experience with the world. Keep on keeping on!!!
February 20, 2024
Highly recommend for all Americans but especially New Yorkers. Author tells his eye-opening story accessibly and with feeling. The timeline is sometimes a little convoluted and I have a few quibbles with how some academic ideas are related but those are small beans.
February 2, 2024
this was really excellent! thank you edwin raymond for all you've done and continue to do in this fight for justice and reform. although it was disheartening to hear about the federal case being dropped, i was also inspired by the other shockwaves sent by raymond and his colleagues, sparking the same bravery in many other officers around the nation. i really appreciated his focus on root causes, and while i think individual cops can still be held a little more accountable for their actions and complacency, i also think it's dangerous to lose site of just how systemic and upstream the injustices really are.
i picked this book up because i've become interested in ideas of abolition since picking up my first angela davis at the beginning of january. while raymond is more in the reform camp than abolition, i think this was very important for me to listen to, as it was even more eye-opening than i expected.
i really recommend this to anyone who is "pro-police," in any sense of the phrase. especially those who were resistant to either wave of the black lives matter movement. just give it a chance and have an open mind, what you get out of the book will be invaluable.
i picked this book up because i've become interested in ideas of abolition since picking up my first angela davis at the beginning of january. while raymond is more in the reform camp than abolition, i think this was very important for me to listen to, as it was even more eye-opening than i expected.
i really recommend this to anyone who is "pro-police," in any sense of the phrase. especially those who were resistant to either wave of the black lives matter movement. just give it a chance and have an open mind, what you get out of the book will be invaluable.
February 12, 2024
A good option for Black History Month reading. Living and recent history here from a Black man who joined the force to be an advocate, protector and role model for his New York City community. Unfortunately he found that his goals did not align with the majority white, insular, and in many cases corrupt colleagues. And it's not just the people, but the system, incentives, even the way the history of policing is taught to rookies. He became an outcast because as he put it he "refused to hunt his own people... the abuse of black bodies is a lucrative business." It will take more than one man to make change but I'm grateful this man tried. This book will especially resonate with New Yorkers. It's filled with more firsthand observations that paint a frustrating and sometimes scary picture. The author's subway stories alone are worth the read; he explains why and how cops "hid" instead of acting as deterrents to crime. He also reminded me why I've always had a low opinion of Bratton.
March 2, 2024
I thought this was a very important book but I got lost in its many threads. I admire his courage to whistleblow the NYPD though I think this book would have been stronger if he didn’t play the victim card so often.
Most powerful part for me: Argument that preventing crimes doesn’t produce crime-fighting statistics — so the NYPD instead set unofficial quotas to chase these statistics— using tactics such as hiding in rooms to surprise and arrest people skipping subway fare — instead of preventing minor crimes through “officer presence” — officers visible and present, interacting with people as needed but not hassling them. He had the data and anecdotes to show how racial bias more often than not dictated who NYPD chose to go after
I’d recommend the documentary over the book to learn more
Most powerful part for me: Argument that preventing crimes doesn’t produce crime-fighting statistics — so the NYPD instead set unofficial quotas to chase these statistics— using tactics such as hiding in rooms to surprise and arrest people skipping subway fare — instead of preventing minor crimes through “officer presence” — officers visible and present, interacting with people as needed but not hassling them. He had the data and anecdotes to show how racial bias more often than not dictated who NYPD chose to go after
I’d recommend the documentary over the book to learn more
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews