When They Come for You: How Police and Government Are Trampling Our Liberties—And How to Take Them Back

In this detailed and often shocking book, investigative reporter Kirby (Death at SeaWorld) persuasively argues that following the law may not protect people in the U.S. from harassment, violence, false prosecution, and financial loss at the hands of the police and government. Through two dozen harrowing stories, he looks at warrantless home raids, “state-sponsored kidnapping” by Child Protective Services, a probation industry that uses fines as revenue, and civil assets forfeiture laws that allow police to seize property without even charging anyone of a crime. The latter part of the book takes on profiling and surveillance, freedom of speech, and the profound “chilling effect” of extralegal police and government action on both private individuals and the press. Kirby criticizes the Trump administration’s extreme actions, such as prosecuting protestors of the inauguration for rioting, and lays blame for current surveillance norms at the feet of the Obama administration. Finally, he delves into the more general right to privacy implied by the Ninth Amendment, sharing a miscellany of cases covering overzealous policing of petty crime, invasive searches by the Transportation Security Administration, and mistreatment of incarcerated people. He encourages readers to demand increased federal protections, to know their constitutional rights, and to remember that legal recourse for these abuses exists. This is investigative reporting at its most effective. Agent: Todd Shuster, Aevitas. (Oct.)