Tangled Up in Blue

Policing the American City

By: Rosa Brooks

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Named one of the best nonfiction books of the year by The Washington Post

“Tangled Up in Blue is a wonderfully insightful book that provides a lens to critically analyze urban policing and a road map for how our most dispossessed citizens may better relate to those sworn to protect and serve.” (The Washington Post)

“Remarkable.... Brooks has produced an engaging page-turner that also outlines many broadly applicable lessons and sensible policy reforms.” (Foreign Affairs)

Journalist and law professor Rosa Brooks goes beyond the "blue wall of silence" in this radical inside examination of American policing

In her 40s, with two children, a spouse, a dog, a mortgage, and a full-time job as a tenured law professor at Georgetown University, Rosa Brooks decided to become a cop. A liberal academic and journalist with an enduring interest in law's troubled relationship with violence, Brooks wanted the kind of insider experience that would help her understand how police officers make sense of their world — and whether that world can be changed. In 2015, against the advice of everyone she knew, she applied to become a sworn, armed reserve police officer with the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department.

Then as now, police violence was constantly in the news. The Black Lives Matter movement was gaining momentum, protests wracked America's cities, and each day brought more stories of cruel, corrupt cops, police violence, and the racial disparities that mar our criminal justice system. Lines were being drawn, and people were taking sides. But as Brooks made her way through the police academy and began work as a patrol officer in the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhoods of the nation's capital, she found a reality far more complex than the headlines suggested.

In Tangled Up in Blue, Brooks recounts her experiences inside the usually closed world of policing. From street shootings and domestic violence calls to the behind-the-scenes police work during Donald Trump's 2016 presidential inauguration, Brooks presents a revelatory account of what it's like inside the "blue wall of silence." She issues an urgent call for new laws and institutions, and argues that in a nation increasingly divided by race, class, ethnicity, geography, and ideology, a truly transformative approach to policing requires us to move beyond sound bites, slogans, and stereotypes. An explosive and groundbreaking investigation, Tangled Up in Blue complicates matters rather than simplifies them, and gives pause both to those who think police can do no wrong — and those who think they can do no right.

©2021 Rosa Brooks (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Brooks has an anthropologist’s ear for the language of policing, jumping from the reports full of passive-voice bureaucratese to the darkly humorous, profanity-laden shoptalk. She zips from hilarious descriptions...to bone-dry observations.... [Brooks’] style recalls the work of immersion journalists like George Plimpton, Ted Conover and Barbara Ehrenreich - who happens to be Brooks’s mother. Brooks makes this part of the story, nesting in a book on policing a beautifully written mini-memoir about growing up the daughter of a famous activist and writer, who disdains the police but also values a certain toughness.” (New York Times Book Review)

“Tangled Up in Blue is a wonderfully insightful book that provides a lens to critically analyze urban policing and a road map for how our most dispossessed citizens may better relate to those sworn to protect and serve.” (The Washington Post)

“Rosa Brooks’ Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City promises without question to be the cop memoir for the late 2010s and early 2020s. An accomplished scholar, journalist, and author who has moved in the loftiest legal, nonprofit, and foreign policy circles, Brooks brings a distinctive perspective to the police memoir genre, which boasts few women’s voices to begin with.... But Brooks’ book is also about more than just policing as an institution, or even her own experiences as a cop: It is a deeply personal family memoir, and a meditation on questions of race, class, gender, and family inheritances.” (New Republic)

A liberal law professor becomes a police officer

What happens when a liberal law professor, who has also served as a journalist, and who was raised in a family built around the protest movement of the 60s and beyond, whose mother had told her all her life that the police were the enemy--what happens when that person decides to apply to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, go through the rigorous police academy training, and become a reserve police officer (a reserve police officer works part time, but has all the rights of a full-time officer). That’s exactly what Rosa Brooks did, beginning in 2015, with the continued opposition of her family, especially her mother.  And she chose to work in the district with the highest crime rate of any part of D.C. I remember reading, in college, a book written by George Plimpton who joined an NFL team and described what it was like. I loved the inside view, but Plimpton was a football fan. Brooks’ background could hardly be what you would think would make her a fan of the police.  

With that, You could at least assume that the book would certainly be interesting, no matter what side you are on, and it is. Most of the book is built around real stories and experiences and it doesn’t sound like the kind of writing you would expect from a lawyer. There is no legalese and no explanation of the law. It is all about what she did, saw, and felt as a police officer. It’s not about how terrible nor how good the police are. But, what it clearly does show is how difficult it is to be a police officer. It doesn’t paint in black and white, but shows the struggle that every officer faces every day, sometimes when they fail but, more often, when they make a difficult situation turn out fairly well. She doesn’t make a judgment about what’s wrong with the system (the whole societal system), but lets the reader judge. She shows how the rules sometimes force the police to do things when they would prefer to do something else, such as when they are forced to arrest a mother who was stealing food for her children because a routine check through the system showed that she had missed a court appearance in the past, an arrest that they knew would probably cost the mother her job (since she couldn’t post bail) and possibly have her children put in foster care. 

On the other hand, she also shows that the hard choices are not just made by the police, but also by those whom they police and how class and race can leave people in situations were most of the choices they need to make to survive are bad. Her stories show a complicated world, not a simplistic defense of either the police or the downtrodden. 

There is a section at the end where she proposes some solutions. She knows the legal system as a law professor and her time serving as a reserve officer gives her an insight into what policing is really like and what could be done to make it better. Throughout the book she continuously notes that part of the problem is a lack of funding, but she also sees ways to reimagine policing and police training to help better meet the needs on the street. In fact, she started a fellowship called Police for Tomorrow, bringing police officers and law professors together to inspire new recruits and reconsider how to make policing more effective and humane. 

The last few years have seen multiple instances of the use of excessive force and of deaths during arrest or within police custody that are questionable at the least. This book is a description of what it is like behind the badge. It is not judgmental and recognizes the difficulty of having to make split-second decisions and of the fear that every officer feels out on the beat. She notes that there was nothing in her training about race in policing, nor any discussion about possibilities for reform. There is a lot about the danger that they face in everyday situations and repeated exercises that show how fast responses and avoiding certain situations can help keep them alive (which are certainly important) but nothing about how to avoid or de-escalate confrontation before it gets to the point of the need for violence. She also notes that the police are often asked to do the job of other professionals (dispute resolution experts, counselors, medics, sociologists, family services, mental health professionals, and mentors) simply because our government is not willing to spend the money to provide those to the poorest levels of society. This and the lack of funding would make even the most committed officer become more and more cynical. 

Brooks’ book is far from the current calls for “defunding the police,” and in fact she calls for greater funding, especially in providing the police with more of the equipment that they need and making the equipment more practical for the real world, but also in providing better initial and ongoing training. She also calls for funding for the other professional services that could make the job of the police much more focused and easier to do. But, she avoids empty platitudes and a specific one-size-fits-all plan. Instead, it’s a story of her experiences followed by a thoughtful discussion of the issues and a call for each department not to just follow what was done in the past in this rapidly changing world but to consider how to better do their job and how the rest of us can better support them.  

Definately Worth a Listen

I am a big fan of Rosa Brooks. After listening to her on various media and podcasts it was a bit odd hearing someone else read her book but the narrator did a good job.

Some people may be confused about the divergence into her personal history and relationship with her mother, a famous leftist author. Ultimately these stories help illustrate her internal motivations and give color to the gender and political devide surrounding policing in the US. It works as a "show don't tell" style of writing.

No matter your stance on policing this book has something for you. People in favor of police will appreciate her open mind, her commitment to being a good officer and her humanization of beat cops. As someone on the far political left I appreciated learning about how little actual training in conflict management police relieve as well as a look into how cops become more concerned with personal safety than how to serve the areas they work in.

The conclusion that is most impactful how little they prepared officers for their day to day interactions. Officers learn how to shoot, how to file forms, how to cuff suspects, and even how to stand when doing interviews. At no point are they taught how to talk to a traumatized person, when it is appropriate to call Child Services, when it is better to be firm vs sympathetic with someone, or even when it is appropriate to offer someone a glass of water. This leaves Rosa and her fellow officers more often than not guessing when responding to any call they receive.

She includes some analysis of how low economic status and the over-policing of neighborhoods is tangled up with cops becoming jaded; how inequitable spending of funding leads officers to feel more entitled and less empowered; and how much of each and every interaction is left to the personal discretion of each cop. There isn't quite enough discussion of this to leave you with a feeling like there is any conclusion to be reached.

Don't expect a firm conclusion, or any rhetoric. This won't make you feel hopeless or hopeful, but it is an honest look at modern policing from the perspective of a cop on the street and it is definately worth listening to.

Rosa Brooks, law professor by day, police reserve officer by night, gives readers an unvarnished, apolitical account of the real world of policing. She depicts the complexities of policing high crime neighborhoods; by the end of the book she has founded a police development academy with Georgetown University. Personal, witty, and beautifully written, this is the perfect book to assign in students thinking about policing as a career.

Great Book

Great insight and cheers to someone looking at how we police. It has me reflecting on my long term opinions of police policies. The audi was hard to take sounded computer generated.

must read!

great reading and Whattup prose. absolutely getting and informative for anyone interested in american policing of urban areas

great read

interesting incite. I am currently a law enforcement officer of 20 years....saw her on Bill Mahr and immediately ordered the book. Narrator is very dry and has a monotone voice. only draw back.

Absolutely fantastic narration and terrific book.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Profound and entertaining at the same time. Very interesting and apropos insights into policing. Great sense of humor. Loved it and highly recommend it.

Policing done by a leftist.

This was well written and had knowledge of both sides of the political aisle. This helps you understand what it is like to be an officer but also scrutinizes it as well.

Factual on the ground reporting

Rosa Brooks takes on the training and work of urban policing to deliver a factual, insightful report. Sometimes the book delivers too many incidents and examples when fewer would have greater impact. The ending delivers terrific analyses, informed by the author’s legal expertise and her dedication to her police work. It was heartening to see that she was able to bring together police, the academic community, and other citizens to find consensus on what can be done to improve the system for those affected by it.

Timely and Evocative

This is an excellent example of journalism at it's best. Rosa does an amazing job of asking probing questions, pursuing information, and then sharing various perspectives without forcing her own opinions on to the reader. Her ability to recognize and legitimize various viewpoints makes her work exceptionally impactful. Thank you Rosa for being curious and willing to seek truth in your actions!