Beyond The Badge: Don't Defund, Rethink Policing

Beyond The Badge: Don't Defund, Rethink Policing dives deep into the heart of American policing by examining how over 1,800 departments recruit, train, and retain their officers. Through candid interviews with chiefs, trainers, and policymakers-often revealing contradictions between official policies and actual practice-the book compares internal procedures with stark public data on fatal police encounters. The result is a startling, data-rich portrait of a fragmented system, where life-or-death decisions are shaped by inconsistent standards and cultural inertia. Both investigative and human, this book lays the foundation for change by exposing the science-and the gaps-behind who becomes a cop in America.