Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied the Odds and Changed Cop Culture (Henry Holt, 2023)

“Informed and impassioned... thoughtful and important. Gross’s optimism about police reform offers an antidote to the cynicism and gloom that pervade most such discussions. His book is replete with both empathy and pragmatism."
―The New York Times

"A vital contribution to the debate over policing and the possibility of reform."
―Chris Hayes, MSNBC

“A refreshing break from our hyper-polarized debate over public safety and criminal justice reform, Walk the Walk shows that better policing is possible.” ―Matthew Yglesias, author of One Billion Americans

“An illuminating look at the possibilities of policing... Walk the Walk is infused with hope and wisdom, and offers a new vision of what law enforcement could be.” ―Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises

From “one of the most interesting sociologists of his generation” and a former cop, the story of three departments and their struggle to change aggressive police culture and achieve what Americans want: fair, humane, and effective policing.

What should we do about the police? After the murder of George Floyd, there’s no institution more controversial: only 14 percent of Americans believe that “policing works pretty well as it is” (CNN, April 27, 2021). We’re swimming in proposals for reform, but most do not tackle the aggressive culture of the profession, which prioritizes locking up bad guys at any cost, loyalty to other cops, and not taking flak from anyone on the street. Far from improving public safety, this culture, in fact, poses a danger to citizens and cops alike.

Walk the Walk brings readers deep inside three unusual departments―in Stockton, California; Longmont, Colorado; and LaGrange, Georgia―whose chiefs signed on to replace that aggressive culture with something better: with models focused on equity before the law, social responsibility, racial reconciliation, and the preservation of life. Informed by research, unflinching and by turns gripping, tragic, and inspirational, this book follows the chiefs―and their officers and detectives―as they conjured a new spirit of policing. While every community faces unique challenges with police reform, Walk the Walk opens a window onto what the police could be, if we took seriously the charge of creating a more just America.