Blue on Blue
An Insider's Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops
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4.2 • 32 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
In one of the most illuminating portraits of police work ever, Chief Charles Campisi describes the inner workings of the world’s largest police force and his unprecedented career putting bad cops behind bars. “Compelling, educational, memorable…this superb memoir can be read for its sheer entertainment or as a primer on police work—or both” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
From 1996 to 2014 Charles Campisi headed NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, working under four police commissioners and gaining a reputation as hard-nosed and incorruptible. During Campisi’s IAB tenure, the number of New Yorkers shot, wounded, or killed by cops every year declined by ninety percent, and the number of cops failing integrity tests shrank to an equally startling low. But to achieve those exemplary results, Campisi had to triple IAB’s staff, hire the very best detectives, and put the word out that corruption wouldn’t be tolerated.
Blue on Blue provides “a rare glimpse inside one of the most secretive branches of policing…and a compelling, behind-the-scenes account of what it takes to investigate police officers who cross the line between guardians of the public to criminals. It’s a mesmerizing exposé on the harsh realities and complexities of being a cop on the mean streets of New York City and the challenges of enforcing the law while at the same time obeying it” (The New York Journal of Books). Campisi allows us to listen in on wiretaps and feel the adrenaline rush of drawing in the net. It also reveals new threats to the force, such as the possibility of infiltration by terrorists.
“A lively memoir [told with] verve, intriguing detail, and a generous heart” (The Wall Street Journal) and “an expose of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureaus [that is] enlightening and entertaining” (The New York Times Book Review), Blue on Blue will forever change the way you view police work.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Campisi, the chief of NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau from 1996 to 2014, explains his methods for combating police corruption in this highly readable account of his time heading the world's largest police anti-corruption unit. After conceding that eliminating all significant police misconduct is a utopian goal, Campisi places the thefts, brutalities, and other crimes in context by noting that the vast majority of cops do their hazardous work professionally and honestly. New York City newspaper readers will find many of the accounts familiar, but Campisi's insider perspective provides a different lens. He ends with brief commentary on the current state of policing in New York City. He's no fan of Mayor de Blasio, and expresses concerns about the reduction in the number of integrity tests since his retirement in 2014. Most eye-opening is his fear that "the NYPD will be infiltrated by sympathizers or even sleeper agents of ISIS or al-Qaeda or some other terrorist organization." The breadth and depth of his experience makes this a must-read for those interested in how police misconduct has been handled.
Customer Reviews
Blue on Blue
Interesting personal account by the former Internal Affairs chief of the NYPD. Well done and worth a read if you're interested in what makes cops turn bad.
Tooting his horn
Good book but the author spends too much time tooting his own horn about how pure he was as a Cop. Like never taking so much as a free cup of "Tea" and numerous other "I was this and I was that" type stuff. Give me a break, I doubt if a free cup of tea or coffee put an NYPD Officer on that "slippery slope " and caused him to shove a broom handle up a guys butt. It was a culture of NYPD and the times that obviously was tolerated by supervisors!
A must read for every police agency.
If police agency's would adopt and employ the tactics described in this book the media would have little, if anything to sensationalize. It would also go along way to build trust in the community and in the law enforcement culture as a whole.