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A revelatory insider's account of the racism, homophobia and corruption at large in parts of the police force, charting Maxwell's experiences as a working-class gay black man and new police recruit.
About the author
Kevin Maxwell served as a detective in both the Greater Manchester and London's Metropolitan Police forces. He now writes and advocates for social justice and equality. He has written for newspapers and magazines including
the Independent and
the Guardian, and has appeared on television and radio for the BBC and Sky News.
Additional text
Kevin Maxwell was a dream candidate for the police force - a young man with a long-held desire to serve his community, a strong moral compass, and a clear aptitude for both the strategic and practical aspects of policing. And, as a gay black man from a working class family, he could easily have been a poster-boy for the force's stated commitment to equal opportunities. Joining just after the 9/11 attacks, Kevin entered policing determined to keep communities safe in the face of a changing world. But instead, from the outset, he came up against entrenched prejudice, open racism and homophobia. For more than ten years, Kevin strove against the odds, until he took the Force to an employment tribunal - with devastating results. Forced Out is a revelatory expose combining deeply affecting memoir with piercing analysis and a fascinating insider perspective on day-to-day life in the Force. It is a touchstone for the silent many who have either tried to ignore the abuse for the sake of their career, or who have been bullied out of their jobs. It paints a sobering portrait of an institution that has not yet learned the lessons of the past and whose prejudice is informing the cases they choose to investigate and the way they investigate them. And it asks the important question: what needs to change?
