Under a Policeman's Knee

Under a Policeman's Knee
Author: Rick Ward
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 83
Release: 2023-03-30
Genre: Poetry
ISBN:

This collection of poems covers a wide range of topics from social justice, politics, religion, sports, overcoming adversity, and relationship loss. Specifically, police violence, the Insurrection, acquaintance rape, wrongful convictions, gun violence, racism, and homelessness are addressed. Readers will be able to relate to poems about love and loss and still find hope in the difficult subjects touched on here. Several friends have gone through divorce and relationship loss and I wrote their stories as if they were my own. Poems with "pain" in their titles are my own stories dealing with adversity as is "Dust on the Shelf."

The Runaway

The Runaway
Author: Lisa Childs
Publisher: Zebra
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1420150219

Bestselling author Lisa Childs launches a new romantic suspense trilogy with The Runaway, an atmospheric, fast-paced novel set on an island off the coast of Maine, where a former insane asylum has been reopened as Halcyon Hall. But despite its efforts to present itself as a spa for the rich and famous, it can't escape its haunted past. When Bainesworth Manor calls out to the cursed, they come. And they never leave again... "Atmospheric, emotional, and well-told." --New York Times bestselling author, Lori Wilde I'm in trouble. Come get me. On a remote island off the coast of Maine lies a secluded estate. There, behind wrought iron gates and rock walls, sits Halcyon Hall. Today, it is an exclusive spa catering to wealthy elites and pampered celebrities. But once, it had another name—and a terrifying reputation . . . Rosemary Tulle has come to Halcyon Hall desperate to find her younger sister. Seventeen-year-old Genevieve left a brief, troubling message on Rosemary’s phone, begging to be picked up. But Rosemary is not on the visitor list, and no one will let her in . . . Halcyon Hall was once Bainesworth Manor, an asylum for the insane. Such places often draw whispers about gruesome treatments and tortured inmates. In the case of Bainesworth, the reality may have been far worse. Now, staff insist that Genevieve ran away, but Rosemary’s instincts say otherwise. Rosemary and Genevieve share an unusual bond, and she knows Genevieve wouldn’t have just left. Compelled to turn for help to a man she hoped never to see again, Judge Whit Lawrence, she tries to learn the truth about Genevieve. But it will mean uncovering secrets about Bainesworth Manor, and about Rosemary’s own dark past—secrets with the power to kill . . . “Childs knows how to keep readers riveted.” –RT Book Reviews “Grabs you from page one . . . Lisa Childs paints an eerie, haunting suspense that will keep you riveted until the very last page!” --Rita Herron, USA Today bestselling author

Evaluating Police Uses of Force

Evaluating Police Uses of Force
Author: Seth W. Stoughton
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2021-02-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1479810169

Provides a critical understanding and evaluation of police tactics and the use of force Police violence has historically played an important role in shaping public attitudes toward the government. Community trust and confidence in policing have been undermined by the perception that officers are using force unnecessarily, too frequently, or in problematic ways. The use of force, or harm suffered by a community as a result of such force, can also serve as a flashpoint, a spark that ignites long-simmering community hostility. In Evaluating Police Uses of Force, legal scholar Seth W. Stoughton, former deputy chief of police Jeffrey J. Noble, and distinguished criminologist Geoffrey P. Alpert explore a critical but largely overlooked facet of the difficult and controversial issues of police violence and accountability: how does society evaluate use-of-force incidents? By leading readers through answers to this question from four different perspectives—constitutional law, state law, administrative regulation, and community expectations—and by providing critical information about police tactics and force options that are implicated within those frameworks, Evaluating Police Uses of Force helps situate readers within broader conversations about governmental accountability, the role that police play in modern society, and how officers should go about fulfilling their duties.

The Torture Letters

The Torture Letters
Author: Laurence Ralph
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2020-01-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 022672980X

Torture is an open secret in Chicago. Nobody in power wants to acknowledge this grim reality, but everyone knows it happens—and that the torturers are the police. Three to five new claims are submitted to the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission of Illinois each week. Four hundred cases are currently pending investigation. Between 1972 and 1991, at least 125 black suspects were tortured by Chicago police officers working under former Police Commander Jon Burge. As the more recent revelations from the Homan Square “black site” show, that brutal period is far from a historical anomaly. For more than fifty years, police officers who took an oath to protect and serve have instead beaten, electrocuted, suffocated, and raped hundreds—perhaps thousands—of Chicago residents. In The Torture Letters, Laurence Ralph chronicles the history of torture in Chicago, the burgeoning activist movement against police violence, and the American public’s complicity in perpetuating torture at home and abroad. Engaging with a long tradition of epistolary meditations on racism in the United States, from James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time to Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me, Ralph offers in this book a collection of open letters written to protesters, victims, students, and others. Through these moving, questing, enraged letters, Ralph bears witness to police violence that began in Burge’s Area Two and follows the city’s networks of torture to the global War on Terror. From Vietnam to Geneva to Guantanamo Bay—Ralph’s story extends as far as the legacy of American imperialism. Combining insights from fourteen years of research on torture with testimonies of victims of police violence, retired officers, lawyers, and protesters, this is a powerful indictment of police violence and a fierce challenge to all Americans to demand an end to the systems that support it. With compassion and careful skill, Ralph uncovers the tangled connections among law enforcement, the political machine, and the courts in Chicago, amplifying the voices of torture victims who are still with us—and lending a voice to those long deceased.

From “I CAN’T BREATHE" to ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’, How George Floyd’s Tragic Death Changed America - The Complete Diary of the Events by David Serero. This book also contains The "Illogical 100" questions about racism in America

From “I CAN’T BREATHE
Author: David Serero
Publisher: DSI
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2020-08-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1005363021

From “I CAN’T BREATHE" to ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER,’ How George Floyd’s Tragic Death Changed America - The Complete Diary of the Events by David Serero May 25, 2020, is a date that no one will ever forget. That day, we all saw the terrible death of George Floyd on social media. Sitting at the computer in his New York apartment, opera singer, producer, and author David Serero witnessed this horrific video, which went viral and made headlines on every news channel. Never had he ever seen a man agonizing and begging for his life under the knee of a Police officer in the United States of America, and thus, in the 21st century. He was outraged and sad. This behavior was unacceptable, indeed criminal, and righteously prosecuted as such. As a Jew, it immediately reminded him of photos of Nazis who proudly killed Jews during the Holocaust. Although he didn't know the details of Floyd’s arrest yet, he knew it was not right. Following George Floyd's tragic death, David Serero witnessed a series of events that he wanted to collect all within the same book, in a diary, to understand how the events led to one another. He hopes that future generations will understand the escalation that led from an apparent crime to a protest, then to an American revolution, to hopefully a change for the better in a country still struggling with racism. During the unprecedented time of the quarantine and lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and while strict rules of self-distancing were applied, thousands of Americans took to the streets to protest police brutality and support the Black Lives Matter movement. Some protesters were peaceful, others very violent, creating chaos, which ultimately required the presence of the National Guard and a curfew. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, George Floyd struggled for his life and mentioned his sadly known « I Can't Breathe...Mama...». David Serero’s « fact-based-only » Diary covered the events day by day, from the tragic death of George Floyd to the protests, as the looting and burning of businesses, the curfews, demolishing statues, burning the American Flag, reporters being rioted, Police officers being attacked. In contrast, others showed their support by putting a knee down for George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. While some protesters showed their support for the police authorities, others provoked and attacked them. This prompted authorities to even request to 'defund the Police' and pass new bills to have officers liable for their actions, while... innocent civilians were brutally shot during the deadly weekend of Independence Day in several cities of America and thus by other civilians. After reading this Dairy, you will find the 100 Questions he calls « ILLOGICAL.» « Illogical » as the tragic death of George Floyd and other events. « Illogical » because we have the solutions, but no one wishes to use them. « Illogical » because these questions shouldn't be asked since we modestly think that we have learned the lessons of our history and, therefore, have already solved this matter. He called them « The ILLOGICAL 100 » and hoped it would open a healthy dialogue and reflection for everyone to debate most peacefully.

Good Cop, Black Cop

Good Cop, Black Cop
Author: Clayton Moore
Publisher:
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2021-01-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781949642575

Good Cop, Black Cop is a moving and timely memoir that reveals how racism impacts people on both sides of the "thin blue line."

Under the Gun

Under the Gun
Author: John Vorhaus
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2008
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780786019946

In this fun and fast-moving mystery, a novice poker player must win the world's biggest and toughest poker tournament in order to solve the murder of his brother, who was a poker professional. Original.

The End of Policing

The End of Policing
Author: Alex S. Vitale
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2017-10-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1784782904

The massive uprising following the police killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020--by some estimates the largest protests in US history--thrust the argument to defund the police to the forefront of international politics. It also made The End of Policing a bestseller and Alex Vitale, its author, a leading figure in the urgent public discussion over police and racial justice. As the writer Rachel Kushner put it in an article called "Things I Can't Live Without", this book explains that "unfortunately, no increased diversity on police forces, nor body cameras, nor better training, has made any seeming difference" in reducing police killings and abuse. "We need to restructure our society and put resources into communities themselves, an argument Alex Vitale makes very persuasively." The problem, Vitale demonstrates, is policing itself-the dramatic expansion of the police role over the last forty years. Drawing on first-hand research from across the globe, The End of Policing describes how the implementation of alternatives to policing, like drug legalization, regulation, and harm reduction instead of the policing of drugs, has led to reductions in crime, spending, and injustice. This edition includes a new introduction that takes stock of the renewed movement to challenge police impunity and shows how we move forward, evaluating protest, policy, and the political situation.

The Kaepernick Effect

The Kaepernick Effect
Author: Dave Zirin
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2021-09-14
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1620976862

Riveting and inspiring first-person stories of how “taking a knee” triggered a political awakening among athletes of all ages and levels, from the celebrated sportswriter “With profiles of courage that leap of the page, Zirin uncovers a whole national movement of citizen-athletes fighting for racial justice.” —Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning Hailed by Publishers Weekly in a starred review as “an enthralling look at the impact of peaceful protest by sports figures at the high school, college, and professional levels,” The Kaepernick Effect explores the story of how quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s simple act of “taking a knee” spread like wildfire throughout American society, becoming the preeminent public symbol of resistance to America’s persistent racial inequality. In this powerful book, critically acclaimed sports journalist and author Dave Zirin chronicles “the Kaepernick effect” for the first time, through “a riveting collection of first-person stories” (The Nation) from high school athletes and coaches, college stars and high-powered athletic directors, and professional athletes across many different sports—from Megan Rapinoe to Michael Bennett. In each case, he uncovers the fascinating explanations and motivations behind what became a mass political movement in sports. “Necessary reading for all, especially those who want to make a difference in promoting social justice, equity, and inclusion, and end police brutality” (Library Journal, starred review), The Kaepernick Effect is for anyone seeking to get involved in the new movement for racial justice in America: “Take a knee, everyone, and start a revolution” (Kirkus Reviews).

The War on Cops

The War on Cops
Author: Heather Mac Donald
Publisher: Encounter Books
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2016-06-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1594038767

Violent crime has been rising sharply in many American cities after two decades of decline. Homicides jumped nearly 17 percent in 2015 in the largest 50 cities, the biggest one-year increase since 1993. The reason is what Heather Mac Donald first identified nationally as the “Ferguson effect”: Since the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, officers have been backing off of proactive policing, and criminals are becoming emboldened. This book expands on Mac Donald’s groundbreaking and controversial reporting on the Ferguson effect and the criminal-justice system. It deconstructs the central narrative of the Black Lives Matter movement: that racist cops are the greatest threat to young black males. On the contrary, it is criminals and gangbangers who are responsible for the high black homicide death rate. The War on Cops exposes the truth about officer use of force and explodes the conceit of “mass incarceration.” A rigorous analysis of data shows that crime, not race, drives police actions and prison rates. The growth of proactive policing in the 1990s, along with lengthened sentences for violent crime, saved thousands of minority lives. In fact, Mac Donald argues, no government agency is more dedicated to the proposition that “black lives matter” than today’s data-driven, accountable police department. Mac Donald gives voice to the many residents of high-crime neighborhoods who want proactive policing. She warns that race-based attacks on the criminal-justice system, from the White House on down, are eroding the authority of law and putting lives at risk. This book is a call for a more honest and informed debate about policing, crime, and race.