Scorpions in the Grass

"An intimate portrait of Tyre Nichols's life and death alongside a propulsive telling of the rise of anti-crime 'elite' police units across the country, and their bull-in-a-china-shop approach to public safety. Bates's nuanced telling of the push and pull of local and national police reform politics illuminates a little-known but critically important part of the story."—Joanna Schwartz, professor of law and author of Shielded

“Scorpions in the Grass by Josiah Bates is a feat of journalism and humanity. Bates delivers a story that will horrify: how police task forces with names like REDRUM and SCORPIONS have risen in communities across the U.S. with devastating and deadly consequences for untold numbers of Americans. At its core, it’s an urgent and engrossing narrative that keeps your jaw on the floor. It’s a story about what has happened—and continues to happen—when bands of cops meant to stamp out crime start to look like criminals themselves. With incisive observations drawn from rich interviews, this landmark book exposes in powerful detail how it’s not just bad apples spoiling these bunches—it’s bad ideas. Scorpions in the Grass is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what policing in this country so-often really looks like: shadowy bands of accountability-free cops hunting the streets for people to target for searches, interrogations, and violence.”—Joshua Sharpe, journalist and author of The Man No One Believed: The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders

“Josiah Bates exposes what I’ve seen from both sides of the courtroom: when a police unit answers to no one, the community pays in blood. Scorpions in the Grass is essential reading for anyone who believes accountability is not optional.”—Jarrett Adams, exoneree, civil rights attorney, and author of Redeeming Justice