The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe has soared up the bestseller lists, making author Heather Mac Donald one of the most important, respected, and distinct voices in our ongoing national discussion about law and order, crime, and race. Mac Donald explains how a new attack on law and order threatens to reverse America's historic, decades-long reduction in crime.

Mac Donald's findings presented in The War on Cops are timely. Over the Labor Day weekend, Chicago hit a new record in its homicide rate, and violence has become an epidemic this year. "In the first five months of 2016, someone was shot every two and a half hours and someone murdered every 14 hours, for a total of nearly 1,400 nonfatal shooting victims and 240 fatalities. Over Memorial Day weekend, 69 people were shot, nearly one per hour, dwarfing the previous year’s tally of 53 shootings over the same period."

Mac Donald argues that this increase in crime is a direct result of police pulling back from proactive enforcement in the wake of protests and attacks against them - what she calls the "Ferguson Effect". Police forces are feeling pressure to abandon the successful intelligence-led policing revolution of the 1990s and 2000s, which yielded the lowest levels of crime in decades. And cities like Chicago are paying the price.

Can we change this? Please join our Chicago Chapter on Thursday, September 29th for a private dinner with Heather that promises candid conversation and lively debate on this important topic.