Are Cops Racist?

A contributing editor for the City Journal, Mac Donald asserts that in a post-Amadou Diallo and Abner Louima climate, police in New York and New Jersey have been wrongfully attacked by the media as being prejudiced when most are merely doing their jobs. Mac Donald readily admits""racist cops do exist,"" but sees the police mostly as shackled, less-effective agents of justice who hold back in black and Latino neighborhoods for fear that they'll be called racist. One section usefully highlights police anger-management techniques and communication with citizens and community groups, and notes that both need to be improved to help prevent police brutality. Yet the book often reads like overcompensation for perceived media bias. Mac Donald's interviews focus primarily on citizens who view the police positively, with little data to back up the book's positive-to-negative spin ratio. Practically all officers profiled come across as beleaguered, fair-minded street soldiers struggling beneath a media onslaught. And, quite glaringly, the book doesn't make good on the promise of its subtitle. Anecdotes about black Americans who long for a stronger police presence are passing mentions; Mac Donald spends much more time singling out publications (particularly The New York Times) as well as writers, theorists and politicians who've jumped on the anti-racial profiling bandwagon. An antagonistic tone and jeering asides (the author ridicules a politician for incorporating parts of the play The Vagina Monologues into her swearing-in ceremony) further squander the potential for meaningful dialogue that Mac Donald's ideas afford.