Breaking Blue

"Breaking Blue is the first book that shares real stories of cops accused of wrongdoing and subsequently cleared. Charges may have been brought against them, Internal Affairs may have started an investigation, but in many cases, thanks to the officers body cam or dashcam videos, the true story came to light, with charges ultimately dismissed or initial convictions overturned. Sergeant Sean Sticks Larkin of the Tulsa Police Department Gang Unit and host of A&E show Live PD, presents real stories of officers falsely accused... including his own"--

“No one who enjoys mystery can fail to savor this study of a classic case of detection.” —TONY HILLERMAN On the night of September 14, 1935, George Conniff, a town marshal in Pend Oreille County in the state of Washington, was shot to death. A lawman had been killed, yet there seemed to be no uproar, no major investigation. No suspect was brought to trial. More than fifty years later, the sheriff of Pend Oreille County, Tony Bamonte, in pursuit of both justice and a master’s degree in history, dug into the files of the Conniff case—by then the oldest open murder case in the United States. Gradually, what started out as an intellectual exercise became an obsession, as Bamonte asked questions that unfolded layer upon layer of unsavory detail. In Timothy Egan’s vivid account, which reads like a thriller, we follow Bamonte as his investigation plunges him back in time to the Depression era of rampant black-market crime and police corruption. We see how the suppressed reports he uncovers and the ambiguous answers his questions evoke lead him to the murder weapon—missing for half a century—and then to the man, an ex-cop, he is convinced was the murderer. Bamonte himself—a logger’s son and a Vietnam veteran—had joined the Spokane police force in the late 1960s, a time when increasingly enlightened and educated police departments across the country were shaking off the “dirty cop” stigma. But as he got closer to actually solving the crime, questioning elderly retired members of the force, he found himself more and more isolated, shut out by tight-lipped hostility, and made dramatically aware of the fraternal sin he had committed—breaking the blue code. Breaking Blue is a gripping story of cop against cop. But it also describes a collision between two generations of lawmen and two very different moments in our nation’s history.

Body cams and dashcams have fundamentally transformed law enforcement in recent years. These innovations can help prove someone committed a crime, or didn't. Real-life footage has cleared people initially accused of wrongdoing, and in certain instances even implicated officers. But that same type of footage can also be used to clear police falsely accused of misdeeds. From allegations of harassment or bias to false arrests or even criminal conduct, these videos can prove officers did not cross a line as sometimes they are alleged to have done. Breaking Blue is the first book that shares real stories of cops accused of wrongdoing and subsequently cleared. Charges may have been brought against them, Internal Affairs may have started an investigation, but in many cases, thanks to the officer’s body cam or dashcam videos, the true story came to light, with charges ultimately dismissed or initial convictions overturned. Sergeant Sean “Sticks” Larkin of the Tulsa Police Department Gang Unit and host of the Reelz show On Patrol: Live, presents real stories of officers falsely accused. . .. including his own. ?presents real stories of officers falsely accused. . .. including his own. Now, we can finally get both sides of the story for citizens and the police officers hired to serve and protect.

"As a New Jersey State Trooper, Justin Hopson diligently exposed government and police corruption."--Dust jacket.

Whatever your position is on Black Lives Matter, defunding the police, and equity in law enforcement, former police chief Carmen Best shares the leadership lessons she learned as the first Black woman to lead the Seattle Police Department—a personal insider story that will challenge your assumptions on how to move the country forward. Chief Carmen Best has spent the last 28 years as a member of a big-city police force, an institution where minorities and women have historically found it especially difficult to succeed. She defied the odds and became the first Black woman to lead the Seattle Police Department. During her tenure, she was successful in bringing significantly more diversity to the force. However, when the city council cut her budget amid months of protests against police violence, she had no choice but to step aside. Without the city’s support, she felt she wouldn’t be able to continue changing the status quo of the police force from within. Throughout her career, Chief Best has learned lessons that those coming up behind her can benefit from. In this book, she will use her story to share those urgent lessons. Readers will read about: How Chief Best grew up to believe in the change she set out to create. Her early days in the police force, including lessons from the academy and her time on patrol. How she progressed in her career within a primarily white law enforcement culture and the events that led to her becoming Chief. How she built her team and overcame the politics involved in her high-level position until the call for defunding came. Carmen Best teaches readers the core qualities and mindset to persevere and rise through the ranks, even within a workplace whose culture and leadership must be challenged, and policies changed on the way to achieving that vision. Her motivating story serves as a master class in guiding principles for anyone striving to serve their community and rise to the highest echelon of success.

Asserting that spiritual abuse in the church is more common than we realize, Ken Blue examines the causes of spiritual abuse, identifies abusive patterns, offers healing to those who have suffered abuse and describes how leaders should model the gospel of grace.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The former police chief, Bill Parsons, had a first-rate pension and medical plan, but it seemed to amount to nothing more than an open ticket to see more urologists and respiratory therapists. He could not take a breath of cool air. #2 Chief Bill Parsons, who had kept a secret his entire career, was now so lonely that it sometimes felt like physical pain. He longed for company, but hardly any of his former colleagues came around to visit him. #3 The man who had stirred Parsons, lighting fires under the dead and the near-dead, lived alone in a decaying three-story brick building about seventy-five miles north of Spokane. He had spent the last year thinking about September 1935. #4 In 1935, a crime occurred in the wilderness county of Spokane that became known as thecrime of the century. But little was known about it, and Bamonte was looking for people who could shed light on it.

In the 2014 midterm election, Democrats in Texas did not receive even 40 percent of the statewide vote; Republicans swept the tables both in Texas and nationally. But even after two decades of democratic losses, there is a path to turn Texas blue, argues Mary Beth Rogers - if Democrats are smart enough to see and follow it. Rogers is the last person to successfully campaign-manage a Democrat, Governor Ann Richards, to the statehouse in Austin. In a lively narrative, Rogers tells the story of how Texas moved so far to the right in such a short time and how Democrats might be able to move it back to the center. And, argues Rogers, that will mean a lot more of an effort than simply waiting for the state's demographics to shift even further towards Hispanics - a risky proposition at best. Rogers identifies a ten-point path for Texas Democrats to win at the statewide level and to build a base vote that would allow Texas to become a swing-vote player in national politics once again. One part of that shift starts with local Democratic candidates in local Republican communities making the connection between controversial local issues or problems and the statewide Republican policies that ignore or create them. For example, in a 2014 election in Denton-a Republican suburb-voters approved Texas's first ban on hydraulic fracking. The next day, though, a Republican Texas agency official announced that Texas would not honor the town's vote to ban. No democratic candidate picked up the issue. Change won't come easily, argues Rogers. But if Texas shifts to even a pale shade of purple, it changes everything in American politics today.

*Warning: Graphic bro-humor, and much stupidity from guys who don't know any better. It was supposed to be two bros on a lark to find jailed outer-space aliens. They honestly didn't think it could be real. Now, one of them has busted a foxy blue alien female out of jail, stolen a UFO, and decided to start a non-profit to 'Save the Aliens.' The only problem? One of them might be falling in love. This is a book that will not hurt your intellect. Much.