Publishers Weekly
★ 08/21/2023
In this searing memoir, 14-year NYPD veteran Raymond argues that New York City is “the red-hot center of the problem” of racially motivated police brutality. The son of Haitian immigrants in Brooklyn, Raymond lived in poverty following his mother’s death and father’s subsequent depression and unemployment. Despite his peers’ distrust of law enforcement, Raymond was drawn to policing as a teenager after seeing a Haitian family friend in uniform: the “respect hovering over him... reframed for me what being police could mean.” Yet once he joined the force, Raymond became disillusioned by a system of policing that discouraged him from interacting with his community. He recounts being ostracized by colleagues for his support of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protests against police brutality and his alliance with Women’s March organizer Tamika Mallory, and explains how the NYPD’s embrace of “broken windows policing” and use of CompStat technologies incentivizes arrest quotas and encourages racism. 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. Agent: Susan Golomb, Writers House. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
I am thinking about quitting my job as a local cop. I don’t know the when but I do know the why. Many of the reasons can be found in the pages of Edwin Raymond’s An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in America. . . . Raymond’s book, based on what he did and didn’t do as he rose through the ranks of the New York City Police Department, explains better than most how one cop can’t change the system — but how change can’t happen without that one cop trying.”
—The Washington Post
“In this searing memoir, 14-year NYPD veteran Raymond argues that New York City is ‘the red-hot center of the problem’ of racially motivated police brutality . . . 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
“Enlightening and infuriating, An Inconvenient Cop is an indictment of broken-windows policing and a compelling account of an officer who challenged the NYPD's racism and quota system from the inside. It is essential for anyone who thinks diversifying police forces and platitudes about reform will influence the deepest structural failures that are embedded not just in police departments' rotten apples but in the very soil. Brave, powerful, and beautifully told.”
—Joanna Schwartz, author of Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable
"A courageous and unyielding exploration of systemic flaws within the NYPD, An Inconvenient Cop is a testament to Edwin Raymond's unwavering commitment to truth and justice. A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the realities of American policing."
—Light Watkins, author of Knowing Where to Look: 108 Daily Doses of Inspiration
Library Journal
10/13/2023
Retired NYPD lieutenant Raymond, with the help of Jon Sternfeld (Scenes from My Life with Michael K. Williams), relates his career-long fight for police reform. The book starts by exploring Raymond's childhood as a son of a Haitian immigrant, his motivations for becoming a police officer, and the factors that impact him as a Black man. As he moves through the police academy and his assignment as a transit cop, he observes how the quota system shapes police work and incentivizes arrests rather than crime prevention. He argues that the NYPD's practice of "broken windows" policing, which directs officers to concentrate their efforts on enforcing and preventing small crimes, promotes the quota system and contributes to systemic racism and negative effects on communities of color. Raymond tries to take on the system by setting an example of what policing could look like when it promotes crime prevention, but his efforts lead to retaliation by his superiors. He eventually decides to sue the City of New York. Raymond includes an appendix with recommendations for police reform. VERDICT An absorbing and thought-provoking memoir that provides a clear and compelling argument for police reform.—Rebekah Kati
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2023-09-05
A high-ranking whistleblower from the NYPD recounts his embattled tenure in the country’s largest police force.
Many Americans first encountered Raymond in 2016, when he was the subject of a New York Times profile that detailed his role as the lead plaintiff in a civil suit filed on behalf of minority officers in the NYPD. The lawsuit centered on the use of quota-based policing, despite a 2010 ban on the practice. In this vital, timely memoir, the author begins with his childhood in Brooklyn's East Flatbush neighborhood, where he was raised by Haitian immigrants. His mother died when he was 2, and his father was soon plagued by health problems, leaving the author and his brother to mostly fend for themselves. As a Black teenager, Raymond became the target of “aggressive policing,” and he thought to himself, “the NYPD must hire a lot of bigots.” It was only after he became an officer himself, at 22, that he understood this wasn’t the case; even cops who had come from the same communities as Raymond “were now perpetuating the same problems they had recently faced.” Later in the book, he notes, “their behavior is policy dictated from the top.” The author carefully explains exactly how the “numbers game” of policing works. A particularly eye-opening passage details Raymond’s first day as a transit cop, when he was told to hide in a supply closet in the subway station to catch turnstile jumpers. The author joined law enforcement to be an “antidote to racially motivated policing.” For his efforts, he was harassed online, passed over for promotion, and punished with retaliatory posts. 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.
