Sorry I was not able to read you book but it went to archive before I could get to it. Sorry once again.

Book received from Netgalley.

This book is the biography of a former member of IAB, Internal Affairs Bureau, Charles Campisi. He is now retired from the NYPD, he worked the department during 9/11 and went through multiple scandals with it. I enjoyed reading this since prior to reading this I have only known of the department through the portrayal of it on shows like CSI. Working in that department seems to be a very hard job, especially since your fellow officers don't trust you and consider you a rat. It was really enjoyable and I will probably read this again.

One of the most authentic and consistently illuminating portraits of police work ever, Blue on Blue describes the fascinating inner workings of the world’s largest police force and Chief Charles Campisi’s unprecedented two decades putting bad cops behind bars.

From 1996 through 2014 Charles Campisi headed NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, working under four police commissioners and gaining a reputation as hard-nosed and incorruptible. When he retired, only one man on the 36,000-member force had served longer. During Campisi’s IAB tenure, the number of New Yorkers shot, wounded, or killed by cops every year declined by ninety percent, and the number of cops failing integrity tests shrank to an equally startling low.

But to achieve those exemplary results, Campisi had to triple IAB’s staff, hire the very best detectives, and put the word out that bad apples wouldn’t be tolerated.

While early pages of Campisi’s absorbing account bring us into the real world of cops, showing, for example, the agony that every cop suffers when he fires his gun, later pages spotlight a harrowing series of investigations that tested IAB’s capacities, forcing detectives to go undercover against cops who were themselves undercover, to hunt down criminals posing as cops, and to break through the “blue wall of silence” to verify rare—but sometimes very real—cases of police brutality.

Told in an edge-of-the-seat way by a born storyteller, Blue on Blue puts us in the scene, allowing us to listen in on wiretaps and feel the adrenaline rush of drawing in the net. It also reveals new threats to the force, such as the possibility of infiltration by terrorists. Ultimately, the book inspires awe for the man who, for almost two decades, was entrusted with the job of making sure the words “New York’s Finest” never ring hollow.

A truly revelatory account, Blue on Blue will forever change the way you view police work

Blue on Blue is about the New York City Policy's Internal Affairs Bureau. The author was the chief of the IAB for many years. He recently retired and has co-written this book about the IAB's work and his own experience. I found this book really interesting, especially after becoming so engrossed in the true crime and wrongful conviction podcasts that have popped up over the past few years. Fans of these shows will really enjoy this book, but I don't doubt that it will anger some who either believe that all police are bad or that all police or good. Personally, I choose to believe that police, like any group of people, are mostly good but that bad eggs infiltrate all aspects of society. It is nice to know that there are people in power looking out for the good of society, even if it means bringing down friends or associates who are in the wrong.

Police corruption is a subject that I’ve been interested in for a good few years, right back to when I myself worked in current affairs journalism. In the UK there are two books which looked at police corruption in London’s Metropolitan Police, Bent Coppers by Grahame McLagan and Untouchables by Michael Gillard and Laurie Flynn. Broadly speaking, Bent Coppers argues that the Met was effective in combatting the scourge of corruption, while Untouchables takes a far more pessimistic view. What these books both have in common is that their authors are journalists, a police officer involved in the fight against corruption has yet to put pen to paper.

Across the Atlantic, in New York, the reverse is now the case. Charles Campisi was head of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs division from 1996 through to 2014, and his book Blue on Blue outlines his experiences. A lot happened in New York during his tenure. As mayor, Guliani presided over his so-called zero-tolerance. While some claim that led to a drop in crime, a number of police officers appear to have taken it as a green light for brutality. This is not to place the blame for any of what happened at Guliani’s door, I’m not suggesting that he bears any responsibility, but a minority of officers do appear to have interpreted the policy this way.

A big difference between the Met’s problems and those of the NYPD seem to be the scale of violence. Undoubtedly, this is in no small part due to New York officers being routinely armed. Campisi developed a reputation as incorruptible, as something of a hard-nosed investigator, and his tenure at IAD saw a marked fall in the number of New Yorkers gunned down by police and the number of officers who failed integrity tests. That said, he still presided over some harrowing cases. The choking death of Anthony Baez, the killing of Amadou Diallo who was shot nineteen times by police, and Abner Louima who was sexually assaulted by NYPD officers, are just some of those he had to deal with. Then there were the officers trafficking drugs and helping organised crime.

As mentioned, both books written on the Met’s battle against corruption have been penned by journalists. Having read Campisi’s book, it would be interesting to read a journalist’s perspective on New York’s battle. Similarly, I would love a Met police officer to pen an insider account as Campisis has done. Only when we have both can we hope to have something close to a complete picture.

That said, Charles Campisi has written an engaging and intelligent account of the NYPD’s battle against corruption and it’s a book I have no hesitation in recommending.

5 out of 5 stars.

BLUE ON BLUE: An Insider's Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops. By Charles Campisi

This happens to be a most fascinating story by the head Chief of Internal Affairs in the NYPD. A chance to learn how a reorganization of Internal Affairs headed by Charles Campisi was so successful in going after corrupt cops in the NYPD and once catching them giving them the opportunity of either cooperating with telling everything they knew about other corrupt cops for a lighter sentence. Charles Campisi writes in the most easy conversational style making the story of his history starting out when he first became a NYPD cop easily accessible to the reader.

I felt like I was right there, witnessing first hand accounts of Charles Campisi's history and his factual accounts of his many sting operations to catch these corrupt cops. Charles Campisi was Chief of Internal Affairs from 1996-2014. The number of crime and New York City people being killed went down significantly during Charles Campisi's service of heading up the new and revised Internal Affairs Bureau. In order to accomplish everything Charles Campisi did for the new Internal Affairs Bureau , Campisi had to hire three times the amount of Internal Affairs Officers that were in place when he accepted his position.

This was a long book, which I read very slowly to absorb what it must be like to investigate other police officer's who do not always follow procedure and their sworn oath to protect and serve their duties. Charles Campisi tells of police corruption that surprisingly was caught at some high level officer's in the NYPD. Whenever there is an allegation of police corruption, it was always followed up. Campisi states that while he was Chief of IAB that he and the people he served with were able to reduce police corruption by fifty percent. During his years serving as IAB Chief more than 2000 cops were arrested for various crimes, and they investigated thousands more for other serious misconduct.

There are two ways too advance in the NYPD. Either the supervisory route--Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and up the chain of command. Or, getting the detective's gold shield. Earning the detective's gold shield is one of the most yearned for positions. Nobody wants to serve in the Internal Affairs Bureau because it is the most thankless job and there exists a blue wall of silence among police officer's and to serve in IAB is often thought by fellow officer's as being a rat or a snitch. Charles Campisi acting as chief was able to turn that around and make that a position that I highly respect the work he did making his department the model for many other police Department's to follow.

Here is how Charles Campisi got involved for remodeling IAB in NYPD: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly summon's Campisi to his office because he has to take control of a crime scene where Luiz Lopez, age 35 an eight year NYPD veteran assigned as an undercover in the Manhattan South Narcotics District is killed by taking a bullet to the chest during a $10,000 drug bust. The next day Ray Kelly summons Charles Campisi who tells him that he is being transferred to head a new Internal Affairs group called Corruption Prevention and Analysis Unit, which will track and analyze new patterns of Corruption within the NYPD and help devise new strategies to combat corruption.

Charles Campisi's first thought is NO WAY. Internal Affairs is the last place he wants to go. Internal Affairs is the last place anybody wants to go. The truth is Internal Affairs is the most thankless, no win assignment in the whole Department. Every success is also a failure. Yes, you can succeed, only by putting corrupt cops in jail or firing them from the Department. So Charles Campisi spends a few minutes trying to talk Commissioner Kelly out of it. But, Commissioner Kelly insists and tells Charles Campisi it will only be for two years and he will rotate out. Those two years stretch to twenty-one years. And from now on all cops are drafted and have to serve in the new Internal Affairs Bureau.

How do you catch a crooked cop? It starts with an accusation or allegation. The accusation may come from the newly anonymous set up 1-800-PRIDE PD line. An anonymous cop can call in and say, look, I don't really want to get involved, but these cops on midnights in the nine-nine, Smith and Jones and Alvarez, they are busting doors and ripping off drug dealers, I won't call again. Click.

I am directly quoted from Charles Campisi's words because he has written this book in an easy conversationally styled writing which best illuminates what his revolutionary new model was able do so successfully and he can say it so easily accessibly for the reader of this review. I really enjoyed this book and I really want to give readers a real flavor of how interesting and crisp in his words in hopes that other readers will give this book a chance, so I have take the liberty of using quotations in Charles Campisi's own words to tell only part of this fascinating story. So I am quoting from Charles Campisi, but I am not using quotation marks for reasons that I am stating to bring you the flavor of his engaging writing that comes across in conversational style as if he is telling you only.

So here are Charles Campisi's words in how to catch a crooked cop: Maybe we get a call from another agency--the FBI or the DEA, another police department--and they tell us hey, we've got this informant who says he can give up some NYPD cops who did a hundred -thousand drug rip, are you interested? You bet we are.

Or maybe, this happens a lot--it's this angry girlfriend or cop's ex-wife looking to get even with a bad ex-husband, or a recently arrested perpetrator looking for payback. We take those seriously, because who knows they might be true. Sometimes we have to go out and look for corruption, itself and we set up programs to do that. Enforcement debriefing, Intelligence, and testing. We have our own group 7, for cybercrimes catching child predators. We have our own geek squad.

Here is just one examples of many which there is so much in this book. I chose to quote this scenario in Charles Campisi's words: It starts out as a simple case in the Bronx against a dirty cop. By the time it's over, years later it turns out to be the biggest police scandal in decades. All the ticket fixers. It turns out that they were working on this case they ran across hundreds of calls to fix a ticket for somebody by calling up and asking to make a ticket go away. During working this case in the Bronx they will see an epidemic of wire tapped phones where hundreds of requests are made to make a ticket go away.

Here in Charles Campisi's words are what started out with a dirty cop in the Bronx: A woman calls in but doesn't give her name. There's this cop in the Bronx in the 40th precinct in the Mott Haven section. She say's his name is Jose Ramos, he owns a barbershop on East 149th Street. This guy who works there, Ramos best friend, a guy named Marco Mack, is selling marijuana out of the shop Ramos knows all about it, he's a bad cop, and someone ought to do do something about it. She say's he's the boss of the operation. That's all she's going to say. Goodbye.

No allegation of police corruption is routine. Ii's not like Officer Ramos is moving weight quantities of heroin, or ripping off people tens of thousands of dollars, or is engaged in murder for hire plot--although all of these will come into play in this case. Still it is a legitimate allegation and get's assigned to IAB Group 21, who covers the south Bronx. When we pull Officer Ramos personnel package and start looking around, we find that the caller's basic information checks out. Ramos is forty of Dominican heritage, the son of a retired NYPD who is now living in Texas, been on the job since 1993. A former PBA delegate in the four-oh precinct, no serious misconduct allegations, lives with his girlfriend, later wife, a woman named Wanda, in a house in Washington Heights and yeah, Ramos appears to be the silent owner of a couple of barbershops, although he hasn't registered the barbershops with the Department, which he is required to do. The two barbershop's both known as Who's First. Who's First I on East 138th St. and a storefront shop called Who's First II on East 149th St. in the Hub, a upscale hair salons. A handwritten sign on the Who's First II window advertises men's haircuts for ten bucks, boys haircuts for eight bucks--which is about as cheap as haircuts go in NYC--and another sign pitches new and used DVD's for sale.

So we sit on the shop's for awhile just watching, and sure enough Officer Ramos, a slight, thin guy with a pencil mustache, is in and out of the shops all the time. And so is this Marco Mack guy, real name Lee Ring an immigrant from Guyana who has a felony burglary conviction, plus some time on his record, plus some drug arrests. He's a known player in the Mott Haven drug trade. Mack is also driving around in a 2007 nissan murano that's registered to Officer Ramos--it's got Ramos police parking permit on the dash--and he's also living in apartment that has Ramos on the lease.

So right there we have enough to scoop up Ramos and ding him with Department charges of associating with a known criminal, operating an unauthorized outside business and an unauthorized use of a police permit, which may not sound like much, but trust me, in parking challenged NYC a police permit is worth a thousand times its weight in gold, and loaning it out to some drug dealing street mutt is serious business. In the old IAD it might have happened, there was a tendency to grab the lowest hanging fruit, to take down a bad cop on the easiest charges and transfer him to another precinct, or boot him out of the department, because if you looked too deeply who knew what kind of embarrassing facts might come out? But this is the new IAB, we don't play that way. We want to see where and how far this thing goes--and if there are any other cops involved.

TRUST ME YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK! What transpires in this case is eye opening and remember I said that through wire taps there will be hundred's of cops fixing tickets. Every Chapter in this book had shocking revelations and was unique. I promise you you will be transformed by reading this book. You will have a greater appreciation of why we need cops like Charles Campisi making our world a safer place. Many police departments have adopted this new model of policing. You will learn the truth behind some pretty mishandled information by the press about things that you think you actually know, but are not the exact facts of what actually happened. My eyes were opened and I learned that I didn't know exactly what I thought I knew. Charles Campisi is an honest and hard working individual.

Thank you to Net Galley, Charles Campisi--you are a hero. and to Simon & Schuster for providing me with my digital copy for a fair and honest review.

“There are never as many cops like that out there as some people choose to believe, but for us, and for all the honest cops, there are always too many. And they are the reason we exist.”

Charles Campisi, the longest serving chief of NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau provides a revealing narrative. This is an eye-opening insider’s perspective of the man who cleaned up the NYPD, the world’s largest police force, weeding out their own ‘boys in blue’, the bad apples, those with badges who once vowed to protect and serve but ended up on the wrong side of the law. Campisi’s expose is riveting. He sends the message to the troops early on that corruption will not be tolerated and then takes the reader behind the scenes of investigations, providing captivating glimpses of a world the average citizen does not normally see; a hard business full of deception and betrayal. Campisi’s formula for policing the police worked: his passion, integrity and achievements impressive and undeniable.

As a side note, I felt a bit more of a personal connection than other readers I suspect, as my husband rose thru the ranks as an internal affairs investigator. I have a considerable respect for these hard working people - their job are not easy. I also developed a huge respect for those who protect and serve even earlier on in my life, while working a 5-year stint alongside the man who headed the federal witness protection program and went on to become a well-respected police commissioner. It pains me to think our cops who sacrifice their lives every day for the greater good are getting such a bad rap today.

*Note: will also post on Amazon, Powells, etc. once published.

Blue on Blue is about the New York City Policy's Internal Affairs Bureau. The author was the chief of the IAB for many years. He recently retired and has co-written this book about the IAB's work and his own experience. I found this book really interesting, but I can't imagine it will please all readers. Here are a few random thoughts:
-My favourite aspect of the book is that Campisi does a great job explaining the history of the IAB and the unique position of the IAB in investigating "bad" cops, including the challenges faced in gaining credibility with other cops.
-Another favourite aspect is that there are lots of interesting stories about investigations -- the bad stuff some cops have been up to and how they were caught. It's a long book, and the stories are the primary focus.
-Campisi comes across as a bit of a Pollyanna -- albeit a likeable and commendable Pollyanna. He goes to great lengths to explain how he has never ever crossed the line, and how the vast majority of cops never cross the line. There are only a few bad cops out there he assures his readers.
-While Campisi was very dedicated to ridding his police force of "bad" cops, he stays away from any analysis of systemic issues that may affect how the police do their job. When bad things happen it's because bad cops were involved. He supports this view with lots of statistics, shying away from the issue of whether the bad cops' victims were predominantly visible minorities or economically disadvantaged and not touching on how some groups are systematically treated differently by the police than other groups. This is an observation, and not really a complaint although it highlights the challenges in addressing systemic issues -- they are not necessarily visible to those inside the system.
All said, I really enjoyed reading Blue on Blue. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

In this eye opening memoir by the longest serving chief of NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau we learn about the exposure of bad cops. Charles Campisi headed the Department from 1996-2014.

I like reading memoirs and this book, for me, did not disappoint. We get an honest and at times fascinating insight into good police investigating bad police.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Scribner and the author Charles Campisi for my ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book really was a fascinating read. The author gives us a behind the scenes look at the inner workings on the NYPD and the IAB. And he does it in a way that is both interesting and thought provoking.

From dirty cops to unsung heroes to sting operations and undercover cops...this book will give you a greater appreciation for those that do what is necessary to keep the streets safe and the NYPD an institution you can trust.

This book caught my eye - the inside story of the IAB - it must be good, surely?

Having finished it in just three sessions, I have to confess that, in my opinion, Campisi has delivered an excellent reflection over his professional life as a member of the NYPD.

It is well written, informative and does not leave the reader feeling cheated - that corners have been cut or artistic license taken with the subject matter.

Recommended for readers of biographies and police procedure novels as well as those of us who will pick up a book based on positive reviews and try it for themselves, irrespective of whether the subject matter initially appeals.

In my opinion, this book is a worthwhile addition to anyone's library, be it an electronic or physical one.

This book is an authentic look into the New York Police Department through the eyes of a man who has been through it all. Charles Campisi fulfilled his dream of being a police officer,ending up running the Internal Affairs Bureau. He lets us know how all cops 'hate' the IAB,calling them the 'rat squad'. Nobody wants to be a snitch,so Campisi comes up with many ideas that make it easier for any cop to report another who is really corrupt. This book is very interesting and quick moving,you feel like you are there as Campisi works through many different problems in keeping the NYPD corruption free to the best of his ability. This is a candid look behind the scenes and is very real. I received this book from Netgalley,Charles Campisi and publisher Scribner,who I thank as that has enabled me to read and review this great story.

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley and Scribner. Thank you.

I love to read a story-behind-the-story and Charles Campisi (along with Gordon Dillow) has provided that in this completely fascinating look into the world of police officers charged with investigating other police officers in New York City. As is made very clear in this book, nobody wants to be known as a snitch and certainly not a rat, so how do you overhaul a department charged with investigating whispers, tips, complaints, and allegations against New York cops? Well, by changing it into a bureau, of course. Naturally that is a simplified answer, but it is what happened in order to put the authority needed behind the endeavor. It went from the Internal Affairs Division (IAD) to the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) which moved it above the level of simply being one of many departments. In addition Chief Charles Campisi was given a broader scope for the department and allowed to put his own stamp on how to run it with help from police chiefs and city mayors over his seventeen years as chief of the IAB. What follows is a look at what it takes to investigate the police officers who make wrong decisions and cross the line between protector and criminal.

The book covers all kinds of fascinating information about how sting operations were set up and run, how 'uncles' (undercover agents) were used to gather evidence and proof and much more. Officers didn't want to serve in the capacity of investigating their own so a system of drafting a police officer for two years was put into place with practically no excuse being good enough to allow someone to dodge the assignment. By making the service mandatory the stigma of being a snitch was removed and many officers elected to stay with the IAB when their two year hitch was finished. I learned about how testing situations were put in place to see if officers passed or took the bait and committed a crime, investigating an incident when an officer was involved and questions might possibly be raised, investigating the use of excessive force, how complicated - and long running - an investigation could be using uncles, wire taps, and video, cooperation between NYC and other law enforcement communities, plus much more.

The book doesn't place special emphasis on big, attention grabbing news stories although those are discussed and described. If you don't live in New York you would probably not have head about most of the cases, but two high profile cases, Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo, were familiar to me. Sometimes the irony involved was almost more than a civilian such as I could fathom. Like the policeman who was talking on his phone with disgust about dirty cops when the IAB unit was listening to his conversation because all of his cell phones had been tapped and he was being shadowed almost 24/7 because of the investigation into the criminal activity he was involved in.

I enjoyed this book very much and feel that I've come away with a better understanding and much more sympathy for the police who have to police the police. It may not be everybody's favorite two year stretch, but it certainly is necessary because the temptations for police officers are everywhere.