Synopses & Reviews
When Harvard-trained sociologist Peter Moskos left the classroom to become a cop in Baltimore's Eastern District, he was thrust deep into police culture and the ways of the street--the nerve-rattling patrols, the thriving drug corners, and a world of poverty and violence that outsiders never see. In Cop in the Hood, Moskos reveals the truths he learned on the midnight shift.
Through Moskos's eyes, we see police academy graduates unprepared for the realities of the street, success measured by number of arrests, and the ultimate failure of the war on drugs. In addition to telling an explosive insider's story of what it is really like to be a police officer, he makes a passionate argument for drug legalization as the only realistic way to end drug violence--and let cops once again protect and serve. In a new afterword, Moskos describes the many benefits of foot patrol--or, as he calls it, "policing green."
Review
A devastating critique of America's failed war on drugs. is a powerful and truly unique document in the sociology of criminal justice. Using an original blend of personal experience, adroit cultural interpretation, and hard-edged sociological analysis, Moskos sympathetically dissects the social context of the drug users' world, and shows us this tragedy close up from the police perspective.
Review
is a thoughtful, highly entertaining record of a police officer's year spent patrolling one of the country's toughest urban districts, delivered by Moskos, who wore the uniform. For those who are interested in crime and how things work, and for readers seeking a reasoned look at the war on drugs and its implications, this is the handbook.
Review
Peter Moskos, a sociologist by training, somewhat inadvertently became a police officer. is the fortuitous and fascinating result. It gives the reader the real dope from someone with the training and ability to put the street into the larger context. Highly recommended.
Review
is an extremely valuable study centered on patrolling a drug-infested Baltimore police district. Readers interested in drug policy, criminology, or policing cannot help but to learn a lot from this book. I know that I did, and I am grateful to the author. Many of his insights are eye-opening. His voice is unique and essential in debates concerning drug-policy reforms.
Review
"Remarkable. . . . Moskos manages to capture a world that most people know only through the distorting prism of television and film, where police officers are usually portrayed as quixotically heroic or contemptibly corrupt."
--Daniel Horan, Wall Street Journal
Review
"Moskos's overview of policing problems covers everything from arrest quotas, corrupt cops and excess paperwork to the reliance on patrolling in cars. . . . Moskos blends narrative and analysis, adding an authoritative tone to this adrenaline-accelerating night ride that reveals the stark realities of law enforcement."
--Publishers Weekly
Review
"Riveting. . . . [A]n unsparing boys-in-blue procedural that succeeds on its own plentiful--and wonderfully sympathetic--merits."
--Atlantic
Review
"Truly excellent. . . . This is one of the two or three best conceptual analyses of 'cops and robbers' I have read. It is mandatory reading for all fans of The Wire and recommended for everyone else."
--Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution
Review
"Moskos provides readers with an inside look into being a cop, just as Ted Conover (
Newjack) gave readers an inside look into being a prison guard. Both books are equally compelling. Moskos, like Conover, became an insider. . . . Moskos writes with clarity, compassion, insight, and knowledge."
--Choice
Review
"
Cop In The Hood, by Peter Moskos offers readers a riveting insight on experience as a police officer in Baltimore, Maryland's crime infested eastern district. . . . The insight of the author coupled with the actual quotes of real police officers provides the reader with an exceptional view of police behaviors and the day-to-day obstacles that officers face while policing the communities they patrol."
--Monica J. Massey, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Today
Review
"For anyone interested is what being a police officer in Baltimore City is really like, Peter Moskos' in-depth, academic, and realist account in
Cop in the Hood is a must-read. . . . Whether one agrees or not with Moskos' opinion on drug legalization, one will most certainly enjoy this enlightening and authoritative work on policing a rough area of Baltimore City."
--Sean O'Donnell, Baltimore Republican Examiner
Review
"Anyone interested in the study of disadvantaged neighborhoods should read this book, if only to understand the ways in which police influence the daily life in modern cities."
--Andrew V. Papachristos, American Journal of Sociology
Synopsis
Cop in the Hood is an explosive insider's story of what it is really like to be a police officer on the front lines of the war on drugs. Harvard-trained sociologist Peter Moskos became a cop in Baltimore's roughest neighborhood--the Eastern District, also the location for the critically acclaimed HBO drama The Wire--where he experienced real-life poverty and violent crime firsthand. He provides an unforgettable window into this world that outsiders never see--the thriving drug corners, the nerve-rattling patrols, and the heartbreaking failure of 911.
Moskos reveals the truth about the drug war and why it is engineered to fail--a truth he learned on the midnight shift in Baltimore. He describes police-academy graduates fully unprepared for the realities of the street. He tells of a criminal-justice system that incarcerates poor black men on a mass scale--a self-defeating system that measures success by arrest quotas and fosters a street code at odds with the rest of society--and argues for drug legalization as the only realistic way to end drug violence and let cops once again protect and serve. Moskos shows how officers in the ghetto are less concerned with those policed than with self-preservation and maximizing overtime pay--yet how any one of them would give their life for a fellow officer. Cop in the Hood ventures deep behind the Thin Blue Line to disclose the inner workings of law enforcement in America's inner cities. Those who read it will never view the badge the same way again.
About the Author
Peter Moskos is assistant professor of law, police science, and criminal justice administration at the City University of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He is a former Baltimore City police officer.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
CHAPTER 1: The Departed 1
CHAPTER 2: Back to School: The Police Academy 19
CHAPTER 3: New Jack: Learning to Do Drugs 38
CHAPTER 4: The Corner: Life on the Streets 64
CHAPTER 5: 911 Is a Joke 89
CHAPTER 6: Under Arrest: Discretion in the Ghetto 111
CHAPTER 7: Prohibition: Al Capone's Revenge 158
EPILOGUE: School Daze 184
AFTERWORD TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
Policing Green 197
Notes 213
Bibliography 233
Index 257