Cop In The Hood Summary

Cop in the Hood: My year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District

By: Peter Moskos

Princeton University Press, 2008.

Princeton and Oxford

Preamble

This book review deviates slightly from the usual format that reviews are done. To reflect the style of the book, sections are separated by phrases and ideas that set the thoughts expressed in them apart.

“10-7”

"to hear your friend and colleague described as 10-7 is heartbreaking. This is the way that few officers left working the streets know the burial is complete."

So much is written about policing. Despite the resentments, the police, charged with the task of keeping us safe remains undeterred in their mission so we can live to see another day. Moskos' autobiography evokes graphic images that we often see, but fail to acknowledge. A

metaphor for how violence is perpetuated and the culpability of institutional culture. The police community in Baltimore is a microcosm of others. Their metaphorical symbolism refracts valor, reticence, stereotypes, and the duty. Even if it costs them their lives. While some are being buried, others wait in line to rise to the call of duty. Moskos’ narrative reiterates the experiences of these men and women who have seen violence unfold. The unwavering response to put it down when the need arises on the one hand and the culture that encourages reticence on the other. The dilemmas cannot be overemphasized. He harps on the culture of drug and violence in the ghettoes of Baltimore. His narrative derives its substance from Freudian’s idea of man’s bestial nature. That is the realities of underprivileged communities.
“The Call”
Moskos addresses a pivotal point in his life; the urge to engage in the ethnography of policing led him into joining the police, the narrative explores his one-year experience as a police officer. He took his research as a Harvard student that far. The dilemma of complicity and duplicity will always stare him in the face, (Fassin, 2013) struggles with this dilemma in Enforcing Order.
Moskos personifies danger as the persona that creates a bond among police officers it also foregrounds the inherent nature of the police culture. His autobiography deconstructs the notion of race and background as he weaves unity among police officers with the symbolism of their uniform. He says "when you put on that uniform, you are not white or black. You are blue."
In an appealing way, Moskos reiterates socially conservative values, rejection of lower-class culture, resentment, and envy as values held by individuals in the police. He absolves the institution of this stereotype.
His upper-middle class with an Ivy league diploma identity and class contrasts with his career as a police officer in Baltimore; the only city that accepted his proposal for the ethnographic study on the basis that he joins the police. He perceives the ghettos as 'exotic', his fascination with its diversity of class and culture creates an impression of the ghettos that transcends stereotypes. He accounts for the routine activities of its dwellers as one that is like other communities; people clean up, tend their gardens, go to work, but the extreme poverty, violence, and despair are dominant.
Cop in the Hood reveals the near-failed state of policing in an environment rooted in violence and drug as well as a justice system that condones the culture. He claims that these realities make police officers ‘learn’ beyond the academy’s routine. The street culture evokes in them the inherent need to survive at all cost. This dissonance informs the notion “they make the larger war look as if it is being won." They lock up the city’s least wanted for the most wanted and the poor for the guilty.
The Academy
"Armed with a badge, gun and more questions than confidence trainees go into the streets and learn to be a cop."
The use of the article ‘the’ before the noun 'police' is indicative of the author’s choice to narrow down the subject matter; ‘academy’. Also, a deliberate exertion to broaden it as a catalyst that 'changes' personalities. He opines that while the training might project an image of a disciplined institution, the reference to the 1988 comedy "Police Academy" may hold true of the realities in the police academy. Moskos notes the irony of the institution’s dysfunction - "low standards, leaky roofs, shortages of paper and forms…" and compares it to the communities perceived to be dysfunctional. His view on “little subject retention in the academy” is indicative of the flaws that spiral through the communities in form of police incidents. Moskos disagrees with the institution’s conservative procedure that validates the "insecurity in the department's ability to control the rank and file." He established the academy as a 'rite of passage' that transitions a civilian into an officer, hence, identity. The academy constructs their identity, but greatly kills trainee’s morale.
…of Drugs and Violence
"Naw, I am not like that because I'd let the good people build an ark and float out…White cops will be standing on the walls with big poles pushing people back in."

Moskos' grime description of his colleague's statement contrasts his view of the police culture on identity. He defines their ‘hatred’ in terms of class and culture, not race. "I got nothing against black people. I just don’t like these black people. I don’t care what color they are. If they were white people acting this way, I would not like them any better, probably worse." The police culture on drugs in the 'hood' and violence is synonymous. The damage done by peddlers to the community cannot be overemphasized, but to the police, this is irrelevant. "Minor disruptions of the trade can actually increase violence and an obsession with drug addicts hurts the police." The ironies of the life on the street cannot be overemphasized. Arrests can be made for just anything, and lock up can be carried out just on trumped-up charges including loitering, obstruction of a sidewalk. But pulling up on a known drug corner, hands officers with limited legal options. Drug and violence shift the realities; from public-centered ideal to more police-centered ideals. The description of poverty is graphic, it does not task one’s imagination. It deconstructs the stereotype that it creates the ghetto. Moskos’ narrative establishes a link between the ghetto culture of violence, sex and drug to poverty.
That the law on drug explains the reason drug and violence continue to shape the ghettos. He explores the dynamism of cultures, because the police serve their communities, to get across to the population, the need to express the language of the ghetto (ghettoese) becomes imperative.
Conclusion
“The Street makes everything slippery”

That policing cannot be taken 'personal' remains the overarching message.

Moskos’ attempt to be objective was apparent, but the narrative equally projects his personality. Of course, it is his experience, hence his story. The personification was unambiguous, and this interrogates the scope of his objectivity. Objectivity and subjectivity are established within our experiences, but in all, one can deduce the side to which he belongs. His attempt is laudable, and it provokes every reason one much pick this autobiographical narrative. Cop in the Hood allows for the appreciation of the diverse meanings of culture, identity, and class. It paves way for the understanding of the culture of violence as an integral part of our system. His subjectivity resonates in his idea that ghetto is exotic, as those in the ghetto will likely not share similar sentiments. Cop in the Hood evokes empathy in the reader towards the police institution, the ghettoes and especially every individual that has signed up to protect cities. Ghettos reside in every man. To understand this, grab a copy of the book and let Moskos’ descriptive narration guide you towards the ‘light’ that gives meaning to those

words.
Work Cited
Fassin, D. (2013). Enforcing Order: An Ethnography of Urban Policing. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.