The NYPD Tapes: A Shocking Story of Cops, Cover-ups, and Courage

In this scathing exposé of America’s largest police department, Rayman, a writer for the Village Voice, reveals how a whistleblowing NYPD officer turned the trend of manipulating crime data for political gain on its head, daring to sue the department to halt the practice. The author, a veteran reporter on the New York City police beat, opens with officer Adrian Schoolcraft confined in a mental hospital, the result of a request from his bosses following Schoolcraft’s probing into their dubious policing procedures. In the 1990s, Police Commissioner William Bratton began using a computerized statistical system to measure the department’s success, but the system was all too easy to tamper with. So Schoolcraft, a stickler for playing by the rules, started keeping notes in 2008 on how the police force fudged the crime numbers, and he began collecting tape-recorded evidence of illegal behavior. When his superiors copped to his intentions, Schoolcraft was given low performance ratings, assigned desk duty, disciplined severely, and pushed to the emotional breaking point, before finally filing a lawsuit against the city. Connecting the dots reliably and accurately, Rayman’s account of a modern-day Serpico’s battle with an all-powerful police department is somber and inspiring. Agent: Jason Allen Ashlock, Movable Type. (Aug.)