What can I say about this book? I love a thought out intelligent thought process for what is going on in our country today and this book delivers it. I have seen David Clarke give interviews before on TV and I was very impressed with him from just that. Reading the book just give a deeper perspective on his though and reactions to the police force and what they are facing in today's society. I valued his thoughts and opinions and will definitely give this another read. I also intend to buy a hard copy for myself to have for the future.

If anyone has the right to address cop vs. black problems, it is this man. Sheriff Clarke offers great perspective on how and why he is where is as well as how and why our culture is where it is. But beyond that, he offers practical solutions and possibilities that ought to be implemented. Even better, these solutions are not just his dreaming stuff up. He has implemented these in his life and the lives for whom he is responsible, proving that they work. His solutions are not social experiments. They are common sense behaviors that have served societies well for millennia.

This is a fairly easy read told in an interesting narrative. It might be interesting to see what kind of impact this book might make if it became required reading in high schools. I highly recommend this book.

I gratefully received this eARC from the author, publisher, and NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Cop Under Fire is an autobiographical account of David Clarke Jr.’s upbringing and career in law enforcement. The book is Sheriff Clarke’s perspective on race, crime and polarized politics in present America postulating both a recent deterioration in the fabric of American society and a prescription for improvement.

The book presents these topics in a matter of fact way by drawing from Clarke’s first hand experiences growing up, as well as his personal experiences during a very successful career in law enforcement. Sheriff Clarke links his childhood experience to his career success by anecdotally relating stories of cause and effect and the relationship between the two in his childhood while highlighting parallels to his career experiences. Sheriff Clarke believes, as many do, that crime and criminal behavior are greatly influenced by upbringing (or lack thereof) resulting from poor or absent role models. Sheriff Clarke is the product of a working class household where work ethic, discipline, love, and responsibility were highly present. He has found in his career that incarcerated criminals who did not enjoy a similar childhood family environment are often devoid of discipline and self esteem, and respond to prison programs that introduce discipline and self esteem in the prison environment in an attempt to create a sense of responsibility and ownership, thereby reforming criminals into functioning adult citizens after prison.

After describing his success in improving the prison system in this manner, the Sheriff then applies his learning from this cause and effect analysis to prescribe a “solutions blueprint” for making headway on problems of race, crime, and law enforcement relations currently plaguing America.

The power of this book is created by the freshness of the author’s writing that is underpinned by its pure objectivity. Sheriff Clarke depoliticizes very politically charged topics with the use of data and his ability to show how he used cause and effect hard data to deliver the results that hastened his rise through the ranks of Wisconsin law enforcement to become a nationally recognized leader and expert.

Sheriff Clarke’s data driven objectivity is further enhanced by his believability, some of which is also created by personal circumstance. While Mr. Clarke is definitely “conservative”, he details how after being appointed Sheriff to fill a vacancy, he ran for re-election as a Democrat, lending credence to the notion that he is truly bipartisan and that neither political party has a monopoly on good data driven ideas. Sheriff Clarke also reveals that he is married to a white woman. A testimony to Sheriff Clarke’s character is that this last fact which could be seen by many as neutralizing race in any of his writing about law enforcement and Black America, is totally overshadowed by his unrelenting desire as a leader in law enforcement to improve conditions in America’s inner cities and thereby deliver fellow Black Americans from poverty.

Sheriff Clarke has written a truly engaging book and in so doing has made it easy to understand why he is quickly turning into a contemporary American hero.

Cop Under Fire? No way GODly man under fire!!!! This is a book of abandonment, agony, also beauty and compassion. The book starts by telling about his parents and how they got together and then how he came along and then he goes on from there - the book has it's good and its bad and then its very bad. He talks about America what it was what it is and what it could be and what it would take to become what it could be and it takes to fix everything in this whole world to bring everything to perfection is one three letter word - one precious three letter word - GOD - nothing more - nothing less - just GOD - until then there will be gang bangers, pedophiles, rapists, drug addicts, dui and so on and that will keep Mr. Clark in business until he retires and that just breaks his heart but in the end he knows where he will go if taken early by a bad guy or on time by JESUS. Until then he will Continue to pray for his family, himself, his friends, his precinct, his community, and his America and so will I.

If you have ever watched the Fox News Channel or the Sean Hannity Show, you would be familiar with a man who is a constant contributor to the network. Sheriff David Clarke is a serious, highly decorated officer of the law who loves America and wants our country to be successful and safe.
David Clarke grew up in a home with a strong family unit and a father who had been in the military and believed in law and order. His father also instilled in him the respect of the law and the police officers who work to keep it. Sheriff Clarke talks about his life from his first years as a cop "on the beat" and his continuing conservative views and defense of police officers and their actions. He also talks about his successful work as the head of a prison, but I specifically enjoyed reading the chapter entitled, "American education embraces and enforces poverty ". As a retired educator, I found his discussion of charter schools and regular public schools to be very interesting. This book also includes stories of race issues in the United States and a variety of other opinions of the author about lawmakers and lawbreakers. I really like Sheriff Clarke and the things that he believes in. I think this book is an excellent example of a conservative, black officer trying to let America know about the truth that he feels has been hidden in the racial divide.

Cop Under Fire by David Clarke will be available March 7, 2017 from Worthy Publishing. An egalley of this book was made available by the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

This book should be required reading for anyone who: has resisted arrest or shown disrespect to a law officer; has enforced the idea that cops are out to kill certain ethnic groups (shame on you Obama and Holder); thinks they fully understand the functions of the FBI, TSA and Homeland Security and feels safe because these entities exist; complained that this country doesn’t do enough for them; and in general, anyone old enough to read a serious, thought-provoking document.
Clarke wasn’t born into privilege or in a perfect environment, but he was born into a loving, protective and firm home. His memories of his childhood are refreshing; he loved his home and family. Clarke worked hard, never using the color of his skin as an excuse to fail. He has continued thru the years to learn, earning numerous degrees and honors throughout his career. He states that he will never run for elected office other than sheriff. One side of me says “Aww, you would make a great (fill in the blank)”. The other side of me says “Great, you’ll not get ruined like so many before you, becoming a politician and forsaking everything you believe in”.
Clarke’s thoughts on prisons, the education system and the need to strengthen religion in our lives are solid and make good logical sense. His explanation of the FBI, TSA and Homeland Security’s methodology of addressing terrorism will scare you. He’s exactly right. Just read the news; the proof is there.
Clarke has the strength to speak out about BLM, not succumbing to the popular maniacal scream of racism invoked by our energetic leftists. For publicly speaking his beliefs, he’s treated with anger and hate mail from non-conservatives, especially blacks. Clarke understands and discusses various points of the Constitution, dwelling on the 2nd amendment and Article V.
Sherriff Clarke wisely points out that the nation will not change as a result of an election. I love his assumption that Psalm 5:9 was written specifically for politicians: “For there is no truth in their mouth: their inmost self is destruction; their throat an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.” This is a keen, bold and painfully honest person.
I’m not quite sure yet if I qualify as a Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal. But I do know when I’m listening to / reading wise logic. This book is good for the soul.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Worthy Publishing and NetGalley for making it available.)