While researching this book, my co-author, Ron Harris, and I conducted interviews with close to one hundred law enforcement professionals, elected officials, community advocates, and survivors of police shootings. These individuals represented every race, color, gender, age, profession, and political affiliation. The law enforcement and police interviewees represented every rank of service from patrol officer to detective to chief of police. For a year, we spent long hours on the road driving or on the trains and planes from Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles to New York City to St. Louis to Newark to Baltimore and Seattle to St. Petersburg with the goal of collecting a real profile or representation of urban, suburban, and rural policing environments.
Some people we sought out because of their many years of dedicated service to the noble profession; some we sought out because of their knowledge of criminal justice reform; some we wanted to hear from because their approach ran counter to my views as a black officer—they believed that everything is fine. If I wanted to hear all sides of the issue, I had to be open to all perspectives.
While many of the interviewees agreed to be identified by their real names, some did not. This is primarily because many of these people are still actively working in law enforcement. Among the many courageous individuals who let us talk to them and come into their homes are Trooper Tony April, Detective Brian Mallory, Chief Kathleen O’Toole, Commander Crystal King-Smith, Chief Chris Magnus, and Chief Philip Banks. We’ve included firsthand accounts from each of them.
Within the ranks of law enforcement lurks the dated and dangerous concept that “Cops don’t tell on cops.” This is why I decided to take on this project. If not me, then who else, to help figure out what is really going on in law enforcement? I’ve included my own personal experiences.
The majority of the interviews I conducted took place between 2015 and 2017. My process revealed many experiences similar to mine, particularly among minority police and law enforcement officers, and were generally corroborated by white police officers, albeit from different police environments and departments.
Finally, I am a champion of wholesale police reform in the United States. And like the brothers and sisters in blue I interviewed, I am proud of my own personal contribution and the contribution of all law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line to serve our country.
For 27 years, I depended on law enforcement professionals—both black and white—to protect me from harm, danger, or death. We do things that many could never do, go into places where many would never go, and confront situations that many could never face. We routinely place ourselves in harm’s way to protect the liberties of people we will never know or see. I never felt that any officers I ever worked with would not have risked their own safety to ensure mine or that of other members of the public. For this I am eternally grateful.
But, as leaders, we understand that to address a problem, we have to acknowledge the problem. I don’t know that most Americans even understand that we have a problem. I hope and trust that The Black and the Blue awakens Americans to the problem of racial injustice in our law enforcement community—and our society—and helps address the problem.
—Matthew Horace