Customer Reviews

Brotherhood of Corruption: A Cop Breaks the Silence on Police Abuse, Brutality, and Racial Profiling

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book was a page turner. Goodness, at times I didn't know if I was more interested in this guy's personal or professional life. I really would like for him to have gotten back with Ana though...... But I do think she stayed way to long and put up with too much of his crap.

Nonetheless, this guy is just a guilty as the people he was around. I'm glad he is not on the force, settled down, and became a teacher and got married. I do think he exaggerated some of the stories though. I also don't think he is as innocent as he claims to be.

Lastly, I really couldn't put this book down. It was that good!

Growing up I was very impressed with the peace officers in my various locations.

And while I still see classy sheriffs and police, I am connected to a wide range of law enforcement and others who are fed up with law enforcement's sadistic and corrupt abuse of power. Here are only a sample, and anyone reading this book, knows some % of sheriffs and police do these and worse things.

1) You are not liked, so they lie on report and add felonies.

2) You let them know you are going to report them to someone, and find child protective services on your doorstep in 24 hours for nonsense.

3) You annoy them and they throw you into a wall or lift you up and do a full body slam into blacktop.

4) They harmonize reports so any lie is not detected.

5) They allow serious crime to get a pass if someone is connected to the department.

6) They accept very expensive "gifts" of all types.

7) You are shot because you were not fully compliant.

8) For easy routine issues, 4-8 cars come which are not needed, to have an arrest party, as people in need in other locations are ignored, and a dangerous assault is responded to in over 15 minutes.

9) Slowly they compromise to the point they are criminals.

AGAIN, I KNOW SOME POLICE, SHERIFFS AND PROSECUTORS WHO ARE REASONABLE AND GOOD PEOPLE. THEY DESERVE HONOR FOR REAL SERVICE.

BUT THE SADISTS, HUNTERS AND THOSE WHO LIVE FOR ARRESTS AND WHO ABUSE POWER AS OTHERS WITH A BADGE SIMPLY WATCH--A SIGN OF THE END OF USA FREEDOM.

Read a police magazine and it is really a marine magazine. I do not feel that is the best type of policing. It is one part of the pie, but not the entire thing.

We have 1/4th or 25% of the earths inmates. Gee, I wonder who starts this shame in the so called "land of the free?" It is sheriffs and police who are the main starting gateway.

Wow! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this first-hand account of behind the scenes Chicago Police narotics work.

Being a Chicago resident (and having known two Chicago cops personally) the story rang true to me in many ways. Other Chicago dwellers will recognize many of the locations and sights and sounds of the city.

At times intimately revealing - at times utterly disgusting with sordid accounts of police abuse and corruption - this book is a great read.

Surely, some of the facts have been filtered (we all describe our experiences through our own personal filters, right?)or exaggerated, but I've yet to see any of the nay-sayers write a book exposing the POSITIVE side of the CPD.

I'm sure there are both good and bad in the line of duty. Jaurez goes so far as to make that perfectly clear throughout the context of his story. His purpose here was to pull back the curtain and reveal the ugly side.

Reading the narrative - I could clearly understand his passion for police work - wanting to do good and make a difference in his community and his admiration of all the many good men and women who serve on the force.

Those who think this book is purely negative may want to read it again.

Well written, engaging, thought provoking, at times hard-hitting. I highly recommend it. A quick read.

The storyline itself is enough to make a compelling read: ex-cop lays bare his once-secret past while exposing the prejudices of a flawed justice system. But Juarez's memoir is more than a salacious tell-all. It's an honest accounting of his own role within this system, and shines a desperately needed spotlight on the lack of personal accountability within our civic institutions.

Juarez has been called selfish and jaded by members of his own department for describing in intimate detail the brutal beatings, racially-motivated harrassment, theft and drug use rampant within the Chicago PD. But what these critics fail to acknowledge is that Juarez places these personal experiences against a framework of documented descrimination within the department and without. The juxtaposition of his detailed, in-your-face narrative against these statistics reveals how each of us bears responsibility for the larger status quo.

While the transition between chapters occasionally calls attention to the fact that this is his first book, Juarez's unflinching honesty, vivid descriptions, and educator's insight reveals an American system with real problems that must be addressed. It comes at a time when our country is in dire need of self-reflection, and it offers a fantastic example of how each and every one of us contributes, for better or for worse, to our larger community.

Juarez's painful memories of his life as a member of the Chicago Police Department shed light on an area of the law that many are unaware of.

While reading these real life accounts, the thoughts that came to mind were `How can one man have experienced so many cases of racial profiling and abuse?' `How is it that many of the biggest culprits of these events were of veteran status in the department?' and `Why is it that this is the first time I'm reading such an honest report of the corruption of our law enforcements?'

At times it is almost difficult to accept the events that Juarez recalls, such as the stories of a 10-year-old boy who was caught selling crack and the unnecessary destruction of a car holding several innocent black teenagers. The idea that these incidents happen almost everyday in the city of Chicago alone, is heart wrenching.

Juarez is able to balance the harsh reality of the law with his personal honesty of his life outside the police department. An excellent blend of both worlds establishes Juarez as a real man and not just a cop.

This is a book to be read by anyone who is unaware of the practices of our law system or of the type of world we live in. If you want to become involved in something this is the book to get you started on your path of making a difference. This book will give you reason to join Juarez in his mission to help underprivileged youth, not throw them in jail.

This book confirms all the horror stories told in the ghettoes of Chicago about the city's biggest and most brutal gang. This is gang is unlike any other in the city, however, because it works for the prosecution, so its violence is usually deemed legal. It is the CPD.

Juan Antonio Juarez's true narrative of the life of a Chicago cop may shock the middle class. The abuses he describes, however, are well known to any kid on the street in Humboldt Park, Pilsen, ABLA Homes, or any other part of the city where the privileged fear to tread, and the poor are forced to live. When the victims of police misconduct tell their own stories, their accounts are often dismissed because they "lack credibility". By chronicling the abuse of power that he both witnessed, and participated in, while on the force, Juarez has done us all a great service.

I especially appreciate this book because during the same years that Juarez was working for the police department, I was teaching in many of the same hard-hit neighborhoods. Among my students the corrupt and brutal practices of police were so well known and despised, that I recall even some of my Irish-American and Polish-Americans students, whose own fathers were cops, gladly joining a picket line at city hall to denounce the racism inherent in Chicago law enforcement.

I'm personally thankful that Juarez exposes the corrupt practice euphemistically referred to as "the power of the pen." To the Chicago cop this does not mean the art of rhetorical persuasion, but rather systematic falsification of police reports and in order to intimidate and convict anyone who dares to question their actions or who is simply unfortunate enough to get in their way. I applaud this, not only because the police have threaten me for speaking out, but even more so because I have known people who were beaten as badly as Rodney King for merely asserting their own constitutional rights or the rights of their children. Inevitably, the victim was labeled the aggressor and charged with "disorderly conduct" or "mob action" as a cover for police violence. The police sadistically taunted and harassed one woman I knew because she dared to complain when they gunned down her unarmed son and then created a preposterous story to blame the kid for his own death.

Because of my own experiences, Juarez's descriptions of the abuse the cops inflict on the people they are supposedly paid to protect did not surprise me, his account of the vast privileges heaped on the even the rookie beat cop in exchange for favors, however did surprise me. If one were to draw out Juarez's argument to it logical extreme, then the Chicago cops function as the strong arm of a racist and totalitarian political machine.

This is a well-written account of harsh realities and personal choices. Juan doesn't hold back in the horrible details of his hard life, yet still manages to keep the story line flowing with incredibly strong imagery. The fact that Chicago is now using cameras for public surveillance combined with this portrait of abuse of power makes me scared of the emerging Police State.

I worked with the author in the Narcotics Section of the Chicago Police Department. Please do not let the author's perception of the truth sway your opinion about the Chicago Police Department and the men and women who serve proudly. The author claims that the Narcotics Section and its policies were a leading contributor to his decline. I think not. He thrived on these practices and used them to his advantage. All we saw was a selfish and immature young man who thought of himself first. If the author thinks that only the Commander of the Narcotics Section was disgusted with his drug usage and failing his urinalysis, he is dead wrong. We all were. If you read this book, please do not indict all of us because of one person's jaded stories.

This book reads like a salacious piece of fiction, yet it's an autobiography! This is one of the best books I've read. The author analyzes his experiences, informs his readers about the predatory practices of the Chicago Police Department, educates about The War on Drugs, vows to reform himself and then donates part of his proceeds to a worthy cause -- a life well-lived! This book is a call to action. Hopefully it will influence those who are in a position to make a difference. Count me among the disgusted and disillusioned.

It really is too bad that a man like Mr. Juarez has to write a book to try to explain his disgruntled state of mind.Im not sure what he is trying to accomplish here.But if he wants to call it fiction,it does make for a good storyline,sort of like nypd blue or something on that track.Its too bad that some of his facts are "hazy".Maybe the next book will be true to life.