MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW
I found this book very inspiring, useful and helpful to those readers who are looking to understand about law enforcement in the USA, the necessity of law enforcement, keeping peace and order, realities of racism, war on black people, policing at its best, use of guns, power and leadership.
Kristen Zaman, have been proud and loved the feeling of being a police since she was twenty-one. She used her power as cop to protect people from bullies, the power to take evil doers into custody and stop them from harming their victims anymore. Kristen wanted to be a police office her entire life and loved every moment of it. Her dad was a cop. Kristen gives a detail account about all the exams, tests and analysis she made it through to pass as a powerful police officer. She grew up as a white woman who chose to enter a male-dominated profession. Her greatest challenge was responding to Illinois's worst mass shooting.
Kristen went to a Christian private school. In her personal life journey she highlights her growing up in a dysfunctional home where her mom and dad's marriage that crumbled enormously because of drinking and infidelity at the police department. Her dad battled with the demons of substance abuse. Kristen was a tough chick with creative and imaginative personal traits. She became an independent, resilient, confident woman by following her father's footsteps to become a police officer. Her colorful childhood and experiences molded her into making her the first female police chief in the second-largest police department in Illinois. In her career life she came across George Floyd killing by Derek Chauvin who murdered a man in the broad daylight giving zero concern for his welfare.
Kristen points about police brutality and trust that people don't have in the police system today. She argues that majority of the cops do their job with professionalism and compassion. Having to hold a position of leadership or authority Kristen has used in this book many definitions to bring the meaning of leadership and power rightly. I would rate this book 5 star!
I just reviewed the book, Reimagining Blue: Thoughts on Life, Leadership, and a New Way Forward in Policing by Kristen Zaman, Thanks to Amplify Publishing and NetGalley for an advance copy for my honest review.
About the author Kristen Zaman
Kristen is the former Police Chief of the Aurora IL Police Department. In Kristen’s 30-year career in law enforcement, she blazed trails: she became the first woman Lieutenant in 2008, first woman Commander in 2010, and eventually the first woman Chief in her department’s history in January of 2016. Kristen was also the Chief on watch during a mass shooting in her hometown Aurora, IL.
Since retiring from the department, Kristen has now stepped into her new career as a professional speaker and consultant for organizations and police departments focused on the areas of leadership, women empowerment, positive psychology, and mass shooting prevention.
Kristen is also the author of Reimagining Blue: Thoughts on Life, Leadership, and a New Way Forward in Policing, a passionate and personal memoir of a misunderstood profession through the vantage point of a female police chief.
Book Description
Reimagining Blue is a passionate and personal analysis of a misunderstood profession from the vantage point of female police chief Kristen Ziman.
Ziman credits her colorful childhood for the temperament that led her to gravitate toward policing, a profession where chaos is all in a day’s work. Many times, she learned life and leadership lessons through the revelation of what not to do.
But nothing could have prepared Kristen for the turmoil that would unfold during her tenure. A mass shooting, a pandemic, and civil unrest that threatened the trusting relationship between her department and her community became her greatest professional challenges.
This deeply moving memoir is a story of resilience and perseverance in policing―and in life. It’s a raw and honest portrayal told by a flawed human about a noble profession suffering an identity crisis. Reimagining Blue is an urgent call to find a way forward, not because the system is broken, but because it can always be better.
- Disclosure of Material: I have received a review copy of this book by the publisher in the form of e-book from NET GALLEY as Advance Reader Copy. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”
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