Walking With the Devil: The Police Code of Silence - The Promise of Peer Intervention: What Bad Cops Don't Want You to Know and Good Cops Won't Tell You. / Quinn, Michael

In Walking With The Devil, Mike Quinn gives us a horrifying, and in your face look at the reality of the life of police officers and the culture they move in. As a police psychologist who works with law enforcement to promote and maintain good mental health, prevent suicide and train the new generation of cops, I know that what he says is true. Almost every officer I have worked with has echoed what Quinn says in his painfully honest book, "forget everything you learned in the academy." This is the gateway statement which pressures the new officer to accept the dangerous, "Code of Silence" The author gives real life instances, including his own, of how the code works and the devastation it causes, personally, professionally, within the community and nationwide. Specific examples of how the code is taught, specific legal statutes are explained and the damage to the officer and the public at large are explained in detail. He also focuses on how to stop this multigenerational practice. Every individual officer has to take a full inventory of their personal values and buck the fear of becoming an outcast or pariah amongst those he/she works with and depends on when things go south, and they will. Kudos to Mike Quinn for risking his career, future financial security and every relationship he ever developed on the job to expose this insidious cancer that thrives behind the "code." It couldn't be easy. It's hard to be brave and break the existing paradigm. I'd like to thank the author for taking this monumental risk.