‘The Blue Wall isn’t just good; it crackles, zings and sizzles’—Washington Post Hooking his latest corpse out of the Brooklyn River, the NYPD's Dave Moser opened a can of worms bigger than he ever hoped to see. Eva Cruz is beautiful, but very dead; her father is the first shiny link in a corrupt chain that leads to a multi-million-dollar racket with Moser's best buddy playing cop liaison. Overnight Detective Moser finds himself outside the Blue Wall—his so-called friends locked inside a conspiracy of silence. From the bestselling author of Cold Steel Rain and Bait: 'A scorcher . . . enough to make you comb publishers' lists for his next and play games casting the movie'—Time Out 'One of those savvy crime thrillers that sparkle with wit, cynicism and intelligence'—Washington Post

Framing two men for a murder that never occurred. Orchestrating fake IRA bomb 'finds' either side of the border. Planting guns and drugs. False arrests, abuse of detainees, and securing false confessions. These were the institutionalized activities in the Donegal division of Siochana that were the subject of a landmark tribunal conducted by Justice Morris. In October 2008, after six years, the Morris Tribunal completed its work. Its findings catalogued corruption, negligence, misconduct, and 'a blue wall of silence' in an Garda Siochana, on an unprecedented scale. The reports also highlight the inadequacies of existing accountability systems that were reformed substantially mid-way through the work of the Tribunal, by the Garda Siochana Act 2005. The findings and recommendations of the Tribunal are particularly striking in a country where public confidence in the police has historically been exceptionally high, and criticisms of the police slow to be aired. The Blue Wall of Silence questions what contribution the Tribunal has made to the accountability of the Garda Siochana, asking not just whether it has held the Gardai involved to account, but also what impact it has had on both the accountability apparatus and broader public and political attitudes towards an Garda Siochana. Has the Tribunal fundamentally altered perceptions of the Irish police or has its work been dismissed as a blip caused by a few rotten apples? Justice Morris warned that, without substantial reform, the activities documented could reoccur elsewhere in Ireland. Has a sufficient level of reform been achieved? In addressing these questions, the book makes a substantial contribution to national and international debates on police accountability, raising within democratic societies the crucial relationships between official inquiries, policy reform, and police governance.

"As a New Jersey State Trooper, Justin Hopson diligently exposed government and police corruption."--Dust jacket.

Often referred to as the "Blue Wall of Silence," most people give little consideration to the sub community that is law enforcement. Most officers and soldiers accept the inherent dangers of their vocation without reservation; however, are rarely prepared to deal with the residual emotional effects of policing a community and defending our borders. Because of the strong professional standards and polished uniformed image of our warriors of justice, most people never stop to consider that because officers and soldiers encounter so much brokenness on a daily basis, they themselves can eventually break. This book is a personal career devotional for the entire law enforcement community and their families to bring them face to face with the loving presence of the God of Grace who called them, understands them, protects them, loves them and seeks to heal them. Throughout its pages, the law enforcement community will find transformative vocational meaning and purpose as they favorably live out their faith in the tough terrain of defending a city or nation. Through the often overlooked stories of soldiers and law enforcement officers in the bible, they will learn valuable lessons and gain priceless pearls of wisdom to better protect and serve our communities. Families and Communities will have never before seen access to the inner struggles and daily obstacles officers must overcome to serve them. Chaplains and clergy will be better informed and equipped to minister to the needs of their law enforcement congregants and parishioners.

This book adopts a regional approach to understanding 2020 presidential election outcomes, taking into account the tribalism that has come to define contemporary US politics and building a path to 270 Electoral College votes. The authors employ qualitative and quantitative methods to examine electoral outcomes in the Midwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast, enriching contextual understandings of the national results and illuminating nuances in public opinion, voter behavior, and party politics. From this foundation, the book offers a comprehensive assessment of prominent issues in the 2020 campaign, which fundamentally shaped and reshaped the nature of the election. Scholars examine seven key issues, including multiple crises that unfolded during the campaign, to understand how these issues affected public opinion and the 2020 campaign.

In this new and updated volume, the contributors examine the phenomena of presidential swing states in the 2016 presidential election. They explore the reasons why some states and, now counties are the focus of candidate attention, are capable of voting for either of the major candidates, and are decisive in determining who wins the presidency.

An esteemed journalist delivers a compelling on-the-ground account of the construction of President Trump’s border wall in San Diego—and the impact on the lives of local residents. In August of 2019, Donald Trump finished building his border wall—at least a portion of it. In San Diego, the Army Corps of engineers completed two years of construction on a 14-mile steel beamed barrier that extends eighteen-feet high and cost a staggering $147 million. As one border patrol agent told reporters visiting the site, “It was funded and approved and it was built under his administration. It is Trump’s wall.” 14 Miles is a definitive account of all the dramatic construction, showing readers what it feels like to stand on both sides of the border looking up at the imposing and controversial barrier. After the Department of Homeland Security announced an open call for wall prototypes in 2017, DW Gibson, an award-winning journalist and Southern California native, began visiting the construction site and watching as the prototype samples were erected. Gibson spent those two years closely observing the work and interviewing local residents to understand how it was impacting them. These include April McKee, a border patrol agent leading a recruiting program that trains teenagers to work as agents; Jeff Schwilk, a retired Marine who organizes pro-wall rallies as head of the group San Diegans for Secure Borders; Roque De La Fuente, an eccentric millionaire developer who uses the construction as a promotional opportunity; and Civile Ephedouard, a Haitian refugee who spent two years migrating through Central America to the United States and anxiously awaits the results of his asylum case. Fascinating, propulsive, and incredibly timely, 14 Miles is an important work that explains not only how the wall has reshaped our landscape and countless lives but also how its shadow looms over our very identity as a nation.

A playful exploration of the many things a wall can be

A blue plaque is a recognized symbol of the United Kingdom's national heritage; a living footprint of history, with each one serving as a permanent reminder of an important contribution to the history of the country. The blue plaques commemorate notable, influential, and successful people from all walks of life. They are erected in the present to celebrate the past and inspire the future. This book covers one hundred blue plaques and shares the people and stories behind them, from across the United Kingdom, each linking, through a common denominator, to the next. From David Bowie to William Shakespeare, these plaques run the gamut, commemorating kings, actors, singers, explorers, footballers, cricketers, writers, inventors, scientists, politicians, musicians, reformers, broadcasters, songwriters, comedians, pioneers, artists, soldiers, athletes, dancers, activists, poets, and educators. From Lennon and McCartney to the victims of Jack the Ripper, this is an eclectic representation of British life, as told through blue plaques, from the 1500s to the present day, and accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations and a foreword by Earl Spencer.