A City Divided: Race, Fear and the Law in Police Confrontations

A City Divided should be required reading for all citizens. Deadly police confrontations will continue until all of us demand that law enforcement and community members see each other as partners in keeping the community safe.

The book's title describes the fulcrum of this true story told plus its attendant three court hearings. It is not a courtroom drama, but the trial has moments that are well-curated by the author. Central to the book is the question of race, something that is not just the fundamental problem in policing, but that courts are often unequipped to handle. Jordan, the central victim of police brutality, is black, was in his neighborhood: Homewood, often called a "high crime" locale. This moniker gives the police an additional basis to arrest - or "fear for safety," which might cause a gun to be drawn. The "high crime" rationale is a still-working, time-honored element of the criminal justice system, yet it has an obvious disparate impact on neighborhoods with mostly black residents .So it was after dark, and Jordan was returning home. An unmarked car approached, stopped, then three Caucasian officers emerged, demanding "guns, money, and drugs." Jordan had no idea what they wanted or who they were and fled. But then he slipped on the ice. The officers, announcing their identities only at the time they jumped Jordan, beat the cr@p out of him and left his face swollen and marred. They claimed they all feared (and saw) a bulge that they thought was a gun. But it was only a bottle of pop. Nevertheless, one can conclude that they lied about that: they didn't even take the bottle as evidence of their fear. They just assumed that they would be believed on this spindly logic. Their own Chief would testify their actions were contrary to department policies - and the reader may conclude - basic police work.Harris is opposed to over-policing, and he offers even-handed proposals at the end. He also convincingly tells the story from the police officers' point of view. What emerges is the different understanding people of different races take from police encounters, and how the militarization of the police exacerbates already uneasy relations with people of color.Consistently interesting. The book is organized like an academic publication, but the author wrote it in an agreeable voice for a general reader.