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My Fight to Change Policing in America
by Edwin Raymond
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.
"Combining personal anecdotes and painstaking research, Raymond passionately advocates for wholesale police reform, arguing with convincing clarity that 'when you toss out bad apples, you're not changing a damn thing.' This is a gutting and essential take on a hot-button issue."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Vital, timely ... Readers will be impressed by Raymond's courage and integrity, and he presents an inspiring story, captivatingly written and exciting to read. An urgent exposé, essential to understanding the fractured state of policing in America."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"An uplifting story of perseverance and a hard, eye-opening look at policing and what it takes to make a department live up to its best potential."
—Booklist
"Edwin Raymond is my hero. In his brilliant memoir, An Inconvenient Cop, we have the single most important book ever written on policing from inside the profession itself. It should be read and studied by students, scholars, and anyone interested in the future of America."
—Shaun King, author of Make Change: How to Fight Injustice, Dismantle Systemic Oppression, and Own Our Future
"With illuminating, vivid, and meticulous prose, Edwin Raymond delivers an extraordinary exposé on policing in America. By taking readers behind the often-impenetrable blue wall of silence, An Inconvenient Cop highlights the damage wrought by broken-windows policing and reveals with sobering clarity how racism corrupts our criminal justice system. This rare glimpse into the realities of systemic bias in policing is an essential, exceptional work of social justice."
—Toluse Olorunnipa, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice
This information about An Inconvenient Cop was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Edwin Raymond, a fifteen-year veteran of the New York Police Department, is one of the nation's leading voices on criminal justice reform. He has received numerous accolades, including a Commanding Officer's Award for exceptional duty, an NAACP Courage and Leadership Award, and an International Documentary Association's Courage Under Fire Award and a Doc Star of the Month Award.
Jon Sternfeld is an author whose work includes the New York Times bestselling Scenes from My Life with Michael K. Williams, A Stone of Hope with Jim St. Germain, Marked for Life with Isaac Wright Jr., and Unprepared: America in the Time of Coronavirus.
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