The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe Hardcover – June 21, 2016

I rated “War on Cops” 4 stars rather than 5 stars because there were no endnotes citing the references for the many statistics that Ms. MacDonald quoted. I know some writers feel the superscripts detract from the flow but often even though a writer avoids the distraction of superscripts, they still have a references cited section for each chapter. I have complete confidence in the accuracy of Ms. MacDonald’s reporting of the statistics, but I still like to have access to the original sources. Other than lack of references, this was an extremely well written book in which Ms. MacDonald proves her assertions that the frequent confrontations between Blacks and police and the high incarceration rate of Blacks is not due to racism, as is contended by the Obama administration, but due to the high crime rate in Black communities. She proves that the false narrative of denying the high crime rate and of demonizing the police and the current legal and prison system is not helping the Black community, it is hurting it and the whole of society. She further proves that the Obama administration and its liberal supporters are indifferent to this harm.

According to MacDonald “Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 die from shootings at more than six times the rate of white and Hispanic male teens combined, thanks to a ten times higher rate of homicide committed by black teens.” The FBI statistics show that Blacks, although they only constitute 13% of the population are responsible for almost 50% of homicides. She shows that the deaths due to police shootings (often justified) is miniscule compared to these thousands being killed principally by gangland violence. This debunks the Obama administration’s false narrative that there is not a higher level of crime in Black communities and thus confrontations with the police and higher incarceration rates must be based upon racism. In accordance with this false narrative, the Obama administration wants the composition of the prison population to be the same as the composition of the general population, that is, only 13% of the prison population should be composed of Blacks. The incidence of crime, according to this administration, must be ignored. MacDonald points to the injustice and the absurdity of this. Should 51% of prisoners be female since the general population is 51% female. Not even the Orwellian logic of this administration would purport that.

Has the Obama administration’s rhetoric and actions helped the Black community? The statistics imply it has not. MacDonald notes that in 2015, twenty US cities showed a large increase in homicides, most of which were Black on Black. Chicago experienced a 56% increase. Why has the Black on Black violence escalated under the auspices of a President who is supposed to be deeply concerned about the welfare of Black lives? Why does he refuse to acknowledge this escalation and has said of FBI Director Comey’s report discussing this increase that the Director was merely cherry-picking the data. Why is this President focused upon the rare police shootings and not upon the hundreds being killed each day in gang violence? It is because it fits the narrative of an oppressive White racist society and shifts all responsibility away from the Black community.

The Obama administration’s indifference to the loss of Black lives is further displayed by their failure to even mention the increasing number of Black children executed in retribution for a gang violation or accidentally killed in a drive by shooting. Additionally, there is no concern for law-abiding Blacks such as Debbie McBride, who are desperate for and appreciative of police protection and are terrified for their safety if the Black Lives Matter movement is successful in totally eliminating proactive police programs such as Stop and Frisk, Broken Windows, and Trespass Affidavit programs. Debbie is a three-time victim of rape and blind in one eye from her boyfriend having assaulted her for refusing to try heroin. Debbie applauds these programs as having saved her and her friends from further violence. MacDonald relates real-life stories of the elderly being terrified of leaving their homes for fear of being assaulted. But the Obama administration is deaf to the pleas of these decent, law-abiding Blacks.
MacDonald discusses the Ferguson, Missouri incident and how it showed a depraved indifference to justice on the part of Obama and Eric Holder. These men without review of the evidence decided that the police officer was in the wrong. When the grand jury evaluated the incident and the evidence corroborated the police officer’s description of the incident and proved that the “Hands Up” mantra never occurred, Obama and Holder wanted to alter the legal system to adjust the threshold of proof to favor the criminal and hinder the police. Fortuitously, they were not successful. To Obama and his cronies, when a police officer shoots a Black person, the police officer is always to blame, the evidence and the officer’s life be damned. Is there any wonder why the Black homicide rate has escalated under Obama!

What Obama and his liberal supporters want is to enact the failed programs of the 70s and 80s, programs which allowed our cities to become killing fields. I was there. I remember the violence and the fear vividly. They want to strip away the programs of increased sentencing, increased police presence and proactive policing that Bill Clinton enacted and that reduced the crime rate precipitously. It saved a lot of lives, Black as well as White. It brought stability and prosperity to our country, but the Obama administration is unconcerned with the increase in Black deaths or with our neighborhoods returning to a war zone. I must sadly conclude that Obama, with whom I agree on so many other issues, is determined to promulgate the false narrative that there is no more violence in the Black community than in the White community and that any perceived problems are due to White racism, has another objective besides justice and compassion – it is preservation of his ego. It would be demeaning to him to have to acknowledge that the community with which he identifies is more afflicted with violence than the White community. He and his supporters would rather see their communities and their country plunged into chaos and violence rather than make this admission. In doing so, the problems will, not only, never be overcome but will be exacerbated and spread through the whole of society.

Heather Mac Donald nails it! At a time when police officers are being attacked by the mainstream media and the BLM crowd comes this well researched and well written treatise based on the facts and data! Heather makes no excuses for law enforcement officers but properly points out that there are no facts which support the notion that police officers are racist or that use of deadly or non-deadly force is used dis-proportionally against black males. As the author of Use of Force Investigations: A Manual for Law Enforcement I applaud Ms. Mac Donald's fact and research based tome. Sadly the attack on police officers has resulted in a natural pull-back from proactive policing (which is as Mac Donald suggests exactly what these groups want). The result? The Ferguson Effect and an increase in violent crime. If you're a concerned citizen or LEO, then this book is worth your time and money. To Heather Mac Donald...thank you for writing the truth!

Move past the headlines of the "main stream media" that perpetuates the lies of Black Lives Matter! MacDonald clearly researches and provides documented proof that BLM is built entirely on the false narrative that Cops are shooting "innocent, unarmed" black men. The liberals will hate this book becauses it exposes the falsehoods that the Racial Grievance Industry is built upon! There are reasons the majority of police involved shootings end with no convictions. Once all the facts are known and the fake "eyewitness" accounts are debunked, the overwhelming majority of evidence exonerates the police!

My mom was interested in reading this book and since there was a large hold on the library list, I purchased it for her. She didn't finish it, so I picked it up to start it and I didn't finish it either. The book is not bad. I agree with Heather MacDonald on the issues I read (I quit around Chapter 5) and she has knowledge on the subject. I can't quite put my finger on why it did not hold my interest...maybe I was expecting something else. There seemed to be a lot of data on one page that got a bit overwhelming. However, I would recommend this book to someone who wants to read a history of violence, crime, and police in the U.S. over the past twenty-five years and to those who want a conservative view on the current affairs going on with police and the government.