Short Synopsis
The War on Cops expands on Heather Mac Donald's groundbreaking and controversial reporting on the Ferguson effect and the criminal-justice system.

Full Synopsis
Violent crime has been rising sharply in many American cities after two decades of decline. Homicides jumped nearly 17 percent in 2015 in the largest fifty cities, the biggest one-year increase since 1993. The reason is what Heather Mac Donald first identified nationally as the "Ferguson effect": Since the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, officers have been backing off of proactive policing, and criminals are becoming emboldened.

This book expands on Mac Donald's groundbreaking reporting on the Ferguson effect. It deconstructs the central narrative of the Black Lives Matter movement: that racist cops are the greatest threat to young black males.

The War on Cops exposes the truth about officer use of force and explodes the conceit of "mass incarceration." A rigorous analysis of data shows that crime, not race, drives police actions and prison rates. The growth of proactive policing in the 1990s, along with lengthened sentences for violent crime, saved thousands of minority lives. In fact, Mac Donald argues, no government agency is more dedicated to the proposition that "black lives matter" than today's data-driven, accountable police department.

“This is a book that can save lives.” ---Thomas Sowell, the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

“Heather Mac Donald is an unsung hero in the transformation of New York into the safest large city in the United States." ---The Honorable Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York City

“The War on Cops is an important and timely book." ---Ray Kelly, former commissioner of the New York City Police Department

“Heather Mac Donald has made an indispensable contribution to our public debates with her incisive and critical reporting on the thorny issues of race, crime, and policing in America’s big cities." ---Glenn C. Loury, the Merton P. Stolz Professor of the Social Sciences, Brown University