Before the Badge

"""Simon's remarkable fieldwork reveals how the institutional culture of policing is shaped by recruitment and training procedures that make us all less safe; a must-read for anyone who thinks we can fix American policing with more training."" * Alex S. Vitale, author of The End of Policing * ""Simon brings her subject to life, and her rapport with the officers and cadets reads as genuine. A troubling, nuanced report on the way American police academies train their graduates in the use of force."" * Kirkus Reviews * ""This is a brilliant book! Through careful research and compelling writing, Simon shows how racial violence by police officers is organizationally produced, enabled, and sustained. This is an incredibly important and timely book that should be required reading for policymakers, advocates, and the public interested in prospects for police reform. Contemporary American policing is steeped in a long history of racial violence and racial injustice and to overcome it, Simon argues, will require a fundamental reorganization of American policing itself."" * Becky Pettit, author of Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress * ""Simon has crafted a richly detailed, emotionally intelligent, and historically informed account of how human beings are transformed into cops. Before the Badge is a noteworthy addition to the all-too-sparse annals of effective ethnography exploring day-to-day human life within the carceral state."" * Jarrod Shanahan, author of Captives: How Rikers Island Took New York City Hostage and co-author of States of Incarceration * ""Simon has conducted a detailed, intricate, and nuanced ethnographic study in which she immerses herself in the police academy training process to shed light on how officers are taught to utilize and, simultaneously, develop apprehension toward violence. This book goes beyond providing rich description; it presents brilliant theoretical insights that aid in comprehending the underlying factors contributing to police harassment and violence, revealing the hidden facets of racialized punitive social control"" * Victor Rios, author of Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys *"