Customer Reviews

Walking With the Devil: The Police Code of Silence

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Michael W. Quinn is a retired Minneapolis police officer who is determined to bring to the attention of the public an informed and informative expose of what he calls the "police code of silence" in his book Walking With The Devil: What Bad Cops Don't Want You To Know And Good Cops Won't Tell You. Deftly edited by Margot Willett, Walking With The Devil reveals why this police version of "omerta" comes about and is enforced by the dangers of the job and the (sometimes misplaced) loyalties that arise from them. From training in a police academy, to the investigations of Internal Affairs, to scandal driven precinct shake ups, Willett lays out everything in language and example that is accessible to the non-specialist general reader. Of special note is the section devoted to ten myths about policing which range from "street justice teaching people a lesson" to once being a part of a police "Code of Silence" you can't extricate yourself, to the necessity to be macho if you want to be effective in law enforcement. Willett does more than just outline and document the problems, he also offers advice for police administrators and line officers as to what can be done to weed out lawlessness from law enforcement. With the inclusion of a Glossary, References, and an Index, Walking With The Devil should be considered required reading for all police academia curriculums, and is highly recommended for anyone who is "on the job", as well as an essential reference for civilian review board members and concerned members of the general community.

This book is right on. The code of silence is an evil thing that subverts the truth. The ends do not justify the means. I can't recommend this book highly enough because the code of silence exists and not just in the police force. It is a very important issue.

This book is well-written; the author's conversational style makes this an easy read. It's both believable and useful: The author writes about police corruption and the code of silence from the real world, not a faculty office on some campus. The book does a nice job of painting a picture of exactly why good cops look the other way when bad cops act like bad cops.

This work is entertaining and provides a pretty good description of why there's a code of silence. But it's only somewhat helpful to police managers or internal investigators looking to address the problem. The book starts with many pages of examples of the code in action and many describing how it works. But in the end it flames out - it only skims the surface of possible solutions to the code of silence.

This book is among one of the best I have read on Law enforcement and must certainly rank with with "SERPICO"I read this while in Criminal justice class and my professor said it should be required reading for all law enforcement academies and units.

Length:: 9:59 Mins

This is an excellent book and a topic that I just learned about few days ago. I learned about the code from the San Francisco Targeted Individuals Empowerment Coalition. The Blue Code of Silence: The most powerful force on police behavior.

Well written getting straight to the point about what kinds of ethical problems can occur and how easily officers are taken in by the Code. The solution is easy, but doing so is another story according to the author