I procrastinated in writing these acknowledgments. It is because so many people and institutions contributed to this project, in so many ways, that I have had to live with the deep sense of dread that I would omit someone important, and that in any event I could not possibly recall or thank everyone who touched some aspect of this work, let alone thank some people enough.
I want to start with my family. Barely a day goes by that I don’t think how blessed I am to have the life I do—that they give me each and every day. It is difficult to imagine any person being more supportive than my wife, Jill Anton. She is the one who creates the space that allows the writing to get done, and who pays the price as I neglect other responsibilities. I count my lucky stars that she not only puts up with me, but actually seems okay with it. Samara and Simon, you got the front of the book the old-fashioned way: by providing an environment of unrelenting chaos, with huge doses of hilarity mixed in. Each and every day you amaze me with your energy, your curiosity, your thoughts, and your love. My in-laws, Gloria and Saul Anton, are a vital part of my life. My mom, Sally Friedman, has been the same combination of fiercely loyal and proud for literally as long as I can remember. My father, Benjamin Friedman—Papa to the kids—passed away while I was working on this book. An auditor by training, my dad spent the latter part of his career working in Inspectors General offices in the federal government. This book was the very sort of project that drew him in completely, and I have missed horribly the many conversations we never got to have.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to the people whose stories I have told here. They, or in some instances their lawyers or loved ones, were generous with their time. They assembled files, sent me materials, and answered a flood of questions. But most important, they agreed to relive one of the most difficult moments of their lives. Listening to those stories brought home to me the profound and often incalculable injury that follows from innocent people being cast under suspicion by their government, and being subjected to surveillance and state-sanctioned force. As a society, we unequivocally need to ensure our public safety. But we also have to take seriously the responsibility to minimize the trauma, injury, indignity, and humiliation that accompany encounters such as these.
This is the second book I’ve written with the dynamic duo of Christy Fletcher and Eric Chinski by my side. Christy, my literary agent, believed in this book, and was fascinated by its subject matter, from the start. She constantly read drafts, pushed me to make the narrative sharper and more accessible, and provided an invaluable stream of advice and support. Eric—and his colleagues at Farrar, Straus and Giroux—decided the subject matter was too compelling not to publish, even at a time when no one seemed to care a whit about policing (which, as Eric pointed out to me, was not a prescription for selling books). Eric is a rock; I’m again grateful for his sharp and questioning eye, his gentle but firm editorial hand. I love talking with him about ideas. Additional thanks to the whole team at FSG, including Laird Gallagher, Susan Goldfarb, Jeff Seroy, and Lottchen Shivers.
It is said that there is nothing new under the sun. My hat is, and remains, off to Anthony Amsterdam. From the time I began teaching Criminal Procedure, over thirty years ago, his extraordinary published lectures—Perspectives on the Fourth Amendment—have been the very best thing written on this subject. Tony is a wonder of care, brilliance, and passion. Much of what I’ve done here is derivative of his work. He was generous and meticulous (as always) in offering help when asked.
Similar grace and generosity was exhibited by two of the leading figures in this field, Orin Kerr and Chris Slobogin. Without their quite knowing it, they have been my go-to guys. I have stepped all over their turf, and they have repaid me by providing unending assistance.
I worked many of these ideas out in articles I was fortunate to coauthor with Oren Bar-Gill, Cynthia Stein, and Maria Ponomarenko. Oren taught me a great deal, a store of insight on which I keep drawing. I really can’t capture the debt I owe Maria in particular. She is, and has been, my partner in crime—or at least policing and criminal procedure—for years now. Once my talented student—she did research for this book beginning in her 1L year—she now co-teaches the Democratic Policing seminar with me, where the ideas here are refined, and serves as the Deputy Director of the Policing Project, where we labor side by side daily to put these ideas into action. Most important, Maria read every word of this book, sometimes two or three times.
I am lucky to teach at a school that must have the largest and most talented collection of criminal justice, policing, administrative, and constitutional law experts in the country, if not the world. I can’t measure their contributions but to say that this book was vastly improved by the countless conversations we had, the many chances they give me to present parts of the manuscript, and their generosity in reading and commenting on it. A special shout-out to Daryl Levinson and Rachel Barkow, who read every word of the manuscript and provided extensive comments. And then there are (and here is where I start worrying I’m missing people) Adam Cox, Michael Farbiarz, David Garland, Deb Gramiccioni, Randy Hertz, Rick Hills, Dan Hulsebosch, Jim Jacobs, Michael Levine, Erin Murphy, Burt Neuborne, Sam Rascoff, Adam Samaha, Andy Schaffer, Steve Schulhofer, Kathy Strandburg, Tony Thompson, Jeremy Waldron, and Andrew Weissmann.
I got similar help from friends and colleagues everywhere. The Austin family spent a few days obsessed with stop-and-frisk. Many people read portions of the book in progress or talked with me at length about the ideas: Miriam Baer, Sandy Baggett, Emily Berman, Kiel Brennan-Marquez, Sam Buell, Bethany Chaney, Simon Chesterman, Doug Cohen, Andrew Crespo, John Cuti, Herman Goldstein, Risa Goluboff, Michael Jones, Nancy King, Anne Kornhauser, Genevieve Lakier, Rob Lax, Dahlia Lithwick, Mary Moore, Eve Primus, John Rappaport, Daphna Renan, Erin Scharff, Joanna Schwartz, Geoff Smith, Lior Strahelivitz, Scott Sundby, Sam Walker, and Dan Wilhelm. Various and sundry members of my lifelong friends, the Tenenbaum clan, read pieces of the manuscript and commented, no one more so than Mike Eisner, an author himself. Special thanks to Eberhardt Schmidt-Assman, who connected me to the German policing-law tradition.
I’ve talked about the ideas here in many forums, whether it was this book or the articles that preceded it. In addition to my gratitude for any number of workshops at NYU, I’d like to express my appreciation to the law faculties at Vanderbilt (my former home, which will always hold a special place in my heart), as well as American University, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Georgetown University, and the University of Miami. I particularly enjoyed an early conversation about this project with prosecutors and top police in Singapore; thanks to Sandy Baggett for that. I enjoyed and learned from a lecture at the UC-Irvine Law School at the start of the project, and the Hoffinger Colloquium at NYU Law toward the end. As I labored to finish the book, I profited from a remarkable stay at NYU’s Paris campus. That is what the writing life should always be like. I’m grateful to all who arranged and nurtured that stay. And I spent a terrific, deeply intellectual couple of weeks at the Max Planck Institute at Heidelberg. It is a great place, in no small part because of its remarkable codirector, Armin von Bogdandy. Finally, there are the years of students on whom I tried out these ideas—you have enriched me more than you will ever know.
Books like this aren’t written without support. NYU Law School has had a succession of deans who seem to say yes to anything that fosters faculty research. I thank Ricky Revesz and Trevor Morrison for seeing that this project got done. I’ve continually drawn from the generosity of the Filomen D’Agostino and Max E. Greenburg Faculty Research Fund. We have an incredible library support team, with Dana Rubin getting the special note here for all her help. A line of talented and dedicated administrative assistants kept things going: Jesus Ballivian, Alex Lu, Kristin Slater, and now Claire Duleba, whose level of commitment is beyond. There were myriad research assistants who made this happen, from those who initially found and investigated the stories I tell, to those who located my many sources, to those who kept me honest in the claims and endnotes. I lack the space to thank you all here—and many were thanked in the law review articles that preceded this—but you know who you are, and I am grateful to you. I do want to single out a few students for special recognition, because you gave more than I reasonably should have asked. Rebecca Talbott for the first Fourth Amendment seminar, Sean Childers for the crazy data project. For research: Nick Axelrod, Tommy Bennett, Hannah Bloch-Wehba, David Carey, Christina Dahlman, Jon Daniels, Peter Dubrowski, Kevin Friedl, Dan Haaren, Ian Herbert, Bradley Markano, Neal Perlman, Lance Polivy, Matt Robinson, Colin Roth, and Nik Williams. The footnote crew pulled it together at the end: Getzy Berger, Anna Estevao, Juan Gascon, Ranit Patel, Alex Peacocke, Eric Phillips, Alex Schindler, Stephanie Spies, Daniel Thomson, and Max Yoeli. Mitchell Stern gets bountiful thanks for bringing the manuscript home, making sure all the endnotes (and some of the text) were in perfect order.
As usual, Mitchell Charap and Adam Steinlauf kept me going. So did Tamar Amitay, Sinead Fitzgibbon, and Elizabeth Houchins.
About three-quarters of the way through this book, I began to work to put the ideas here into action. In that work I’ve had remarkable colleagues, many of whom shaped what got published here. There aren’t thanks enough for Anne Milgram, who helped launch the Policing Project and serves as advisor-in-chief. The American Law Institute launched its Principles of the Law: Policing project; my fellow Reporters—Brandon Garrett, Rachel Harmon, Tracey Meares, and Chris Slobogin—are a constant source of intellectual inspiration. (We eat well, too.) Rebekah Carmichael and the communications team at NYU Law have been extraordinary in their support and ingenuity. Tolga Ergunay and the IT crew have made so much happen The externs and interns at the Policing Project have accomplished amazing things in a short period of time, and—again—that work influenced where this project ended up.
The world is changed by people who labor to change it. The events described in this book have triggered studies, conferences, debates, and—yes—protests from people across the ideological spectrum. I have learned a terrific amount from all those who, in the streets, in public interest groups, and in government, have pushed back against government overreaching, whether it was surveillance or the use of force. Eternal vigilance is indeed the price of liberty, and in moments of quiet reflection we should all thank you for your work. It’s not always popular, but it is so essential.
And then there are the police. If you’d asked me at the start of this project if I predicted I’d be spending large swaths of my life with law enforcement, I’d have chuckled. I chuckle no more. I have learned from—and this book was enormously influenced by—so many fine public servants. At a time of great turmoil in your profession, you have exhibited vision, balance, and a willingness to examine all you do. I’m lucky to be working each day with so many of you. Particular thanks to the signatories of the original Statement of Democratic Policing Principles, who attended the Democratic Policing conference at NYU in November 2015 and collectively demanded that we produce it. And abundant gratitude to my now dear friend and counselor, Camden County Police Chief J. Scott Thomson.