When They Come for You

July 1, 2019
In this detailed and often shocking book, investigative reporter Kirby (Death at SeaWorld) persuasively argues that following the law may not protect people in the U.S. from harassment, violence, false prosecution, and financial loss at the hands of the police and government. Through two dozen harrowing stories, he looks at warrantless home raids, “state-sponsored kidnapping” by Child Protective Services, a probation industry that uses fines as revenue, and civil assets forfeiture laws that allow police to seize property without even charging anyone of a crime. The latter part of the book takes on profiling and surveillance, freedom of speech, and the profound “chilling effect” of extralegal police and government action on both private individuals and the press. Kirby criticizes the Trump administration’s extreme actions, such as prosecuting protestors of the inauguration for rioting, and lays blame for current surveillance norms at the feet of the Obama administration. Finally, he delves into the more general right to privacy implied by the Ninth Amendment, sharing a miscellany of cases covering overzealous policing of petty crime, invasive searches by the Transportation Security Administration, and mistreatment of incarcerated people. He encourages readers to demand increased federal protections, to know their constitutional rights, and to remember that legal recourse for these abuses exists. This is investigative reporting at its most effective. Agent: Todd Shuster, Aevitas.

August 1, 2019
Investigative reporting and anecdotes demonstrate why the author believes United States citizens should fear governments at all levels. A journalist and self-described "leftist libertarian," Kirby (Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity, 2012, etc.) certainly understands the vital roles of governments regarding roads, parks, schools, consumer safety, environmental protection, and even law enforcement. In this book, the author focuses on how and why government entities in Washington, D.C., state capitals, county seats, city halls, and law enforcement complexes consistently restrict the rights of Americans. Kirby hopes to raise individual consciousness with the case studies and then encourage individuals to mobilize against government overreach, whether it is well intended or motivated by corruption. The chapters focus on warrantless police searches of residences; child protective services removing juveniles from families; incarceration of suspects for minor alleged offenses or inability to pay bail (manifested in the proliferation of "modern-day debtors' prisons"); a law enforcement practice known as forfeiture, which strips cash and other assets from alleged criminals, many of whom are not guilty; suppression of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment; governmental invasions of individual privacy; a malfunctioning criminal justice system revolving around out-of-control police, inefficient courts, and mass incarceration in inhumane jails and prisons. The author also explains why he decided to exclude a chapter about voter suppression by governments, suppression aimed unequally at people of color. He goes on to delineate why he decided to omit Second Amendment controversies over gun ownership and government-enforced gun control. Kirby generally avoids partisan political verbiage; throughout the narrative, he chooses case studies that reflect poorly on nearly everyone involved in the political process: Republicans, Democrats, and so-called civil servants who are unaffiliated. Readers who pay attention to the news behind the headlines will already know much of this information, and Kirby's proposed reforms at the end of each chapter are intriguing but probably mostly impractical in the current political climate. An average contribution to a variety of political debates.

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Starred review from September 15, 2019
In this rage-inducing, impeccably researched, and timely title, journalist Kirby (Death at SeaWorld, 2012) provides a litany of examples of government disregard for civil liberties. Citing local, state, and federal cases, he writes of police who bust down doors without cause, child welfare investigators who rip children from parents on the flimsiest of excuses, and prosecutors who ignore evidence at will. Kirby is relentless in his research (copious end notes are provided) and readers will reel from one story after another of people who are stunned to discover that their most basic rights (protection against unreasonable search and seizure, for example) can be so casually tossed aside. These are not questionable cases, there is no I feared for my life defense of officials to be found here, and in many civil cases brought against governmental entities, civilians have eventually won. But the cost is brutal; people are injured, property is damaged or lost, and children suffer immeasurable pain. The heroes, including librarians, are those who fight back, draw the line, call out the liars, and refuse to ignore the erosion of our civil rights. Kirby names names, brings receipts, and delivers a remarkably apolitical work of stirring power. An absolute must-read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)