The War on Cops. Heather Mac Donald
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Praise for The War on Cops
“Heather Mac Donald is an unsung hero in the transformation of New York into the safest large city in the United States. Her essays helped to lay out the rationale that gave me and my police commissioners guidance during the largest continuous reduction in crime ever accomplished in our city and nation. This book is a necessary read for anyone wondering what is happening in ‘the capital of the world.’”
—The Honorable Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City
“The War on Cops is an important and timely book. Mac Donald’s clear-eyed analysis separates fact from fiction and provides keen insights into the politics at play and the consequences for law-enforcement officers and the communities they are sworn to protect.”
—Ray Kelly, former commissioner of the New York City Police Department
“If you have heard the rhetoric on all sides of the issues involving the police, and would like some facts to put that rhetoric to the test, there is no better source than The War on Cops. Whether you want facts about the explosive events in Ferguson, Missouri, or in Baltimore, or you want to know why murder rates in New York City fell sharply in the 1990s, this is the place to find solid information. If you want to understand the role of race in all this, that, too, is documented with data. This is a book that can save lives.”
—Thomas Sowell, the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
“Heather Mac Donald has made an indispensable contribution to our public debates with her incisive and critical reporting on the thorny issues of race, crime, and policing in America’s big cities. Time and again, I have found myself turning to her writings for guidance. While I do not always agree with what I find, I often do. Moreover, I am invariably edified. All serious students of urban America today should read this book and reckon with its arguments.”
—Glenn C. Loury, the Merton P. Stolz Professor of the Social Sciences, Brown University
“The War on Cops offers a perspective that supporters of law enforcement have long been waiting for. It is informed by street-level reporting, knowledge of real-world policing, and empirical research. Unlike many in academia and journalism, Mac Donald understands that assertive policing protects law-abiding poor—and often minority—citizens trapped in ghettos where violence and crime are unfortunately making a comeback.”
—Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr., Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Versions of these chapters originally appeared in the following publications: City Journal, chap. 1, 2, 5–7, 15–22; The Marshall Project, chap. 13; National Review, chap. 3, 8; New York Daily News, chap. 16; InsideSources, chap. 12; Wall Street Journal, chap. 9–11, 16; Weekly Standard, chap. 4, 14.
Support for this book was generously provided by the Thomas W. Smith Foundation, the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation, and Randy P. Kendrick.
© 2016, 2017 by Heather Mac Donald
Introduction to the paperback edition © 2017 by Heather Mac Donald
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.
First American edition published in 2016 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation.
Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48‒1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
First paperback edition published in 2017.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGUED THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Names: Mac Donald, Heather, author.
Title: The war on cops: how the new attack on law and order makes everyone less safe / by Heather Mac Donald.
Description: New York: Encounter Books, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016002500 (print) | LCCN 2016010780 (ebook) | ISBN 9781594039690 (Ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Police—United States. | Police-community relations—United States. | Crime prevention—United States.
Classification: LCC HV8139 .M34 2016 (print) | LCC HV8139 (ebook) | DDC 363.20973—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016002500
Interior page design and page composition by: BooksByBruce.com
CONTENTS
Preface to the Paperback Edition
Introduction: The Policing Revolution, Crime, and the Anti-Law-Enforcement Movement
Burning Cities and the Ferguson Effect
2. Ferguson’s Unasked Questions
3. Finding Meaning in Ferguson
6. The Big Lie of the Anti-Cop Left Turns Lethal
9. The New Nationwide Crime Wave
10. Explaining Away the New Crime Wave
11.