A former Chicago cop exposes shocking truths about the abuses of power within the city's police department in this memoir of violence, drugs, and men with badges. Lopez becomes a police officer because he wants to make a difference in gang-infested neighbourhoods; but, as this book reveals, he ends up a corrupt member of the most powerful gang of all -- the Chicago police force. Lopez shares the horrific indiscretions he witnessed during his seven years of service, from the sexually predatory officer, X, who routinely stops beautiful women for made-up traffic offences and flirts with domestic violence victims, to sadistic Locallo, known on the streets as Locoman, who routinely stops gang members and beats them senseless. Working as a narcotics officer, Lopez begins to join his fellow officers in crossing the line between cop and criminal, as he takes advantage of his position and also becomes a participant in a system of racial profiling legitimised by the war on drugs. Ultimately, as Lopez discusses, his conscience gets the better of him and he tries to reform, only to be brought down by his own excesses.
Reviews
"Juarez's frank firsthand account of the culture of corruption that pervades the Chicago Police Department should send chills up the spine of all readers who care about fairness in law enforcement and justice in society... A compelling read." -- Professor Michael L. Seigel, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Former Organized Crime Prosecutor and First Assistant U.S. Attorney. "Juarez gives us a chilling look inside the closed police subculture of corruption, brutality, and racism; as well as the empathetic and skillful work of dedicated cops. More importantly he shows us the inner workings of a system that keeps good cops silent about the endemic abuses that characterize the Chicago Police and other urban law enforcement agencies." -- Marilyn S. Johnson, author 'Street Justice: A History of Police Violence in New York City'. "A sobering, eye-opening, and sometimes chilling expose of police brutality and indiscretions." -- Black Men. "A starkly revealing look at how urban policing oversteps the bounds of law in the so-called war on drugs." -- Booklist.
Author description
Juan Antonio Juarez was a Chicago police officer for seven years, has written for the Chicago Reader, and is now a middle school teacher working with at-risk students. He lives in Monterey, California.
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