Off the Cuffs: Poetry by and about the Police

On a daily basis police save lives, take lives, and risk their own lives. This is the first collection that allows us to see this: police officers not just as brutalisers or heroes but as complicated human beings in a position that is sometimes terrifying, sometimes rewarding and often questionable. It is this exploration of the dynamic point of understanding that makes Off The Cuffs unique. Existing books on police and policing give us a single point-of-view, a black and white story that portrays cops as either saints or villains. Divided into four sections - Eyewitnesses, Insiders, Victims & Perpetrators, and Dreamers - Off The Cuffs gives us a diversity of voices, telling stories of fear, apprehension, love, brutality, death, sorrow, joy, hope and resolve. Out of this multiplicity of voices: convicts, police, bike messengers and established poets such as Charles Simic, Martin Espada, Kevin Young and Colette Inez - emerges a dialogue showing us the infinite shades of blue that surround the profession and the profession's relationship to the society they are sworn to protect.Off The Cuffs adds an important and unheard piece to this body of work: the usually disparate voices of cops, prisoners and everyone in between engaging with one another within the pages of one book.