The Riders Come Out at Night

“A culture of corruption and violence keeps flourishing despite repeated good faith efforts to stop the bad apples, who continue to show up, generation after generation, to spoil the barrel. And yet the authors make a case for civilian oversight by presenting civilians—civil rights lawyers, community activists, grieving parents of those killed by police—as the heroes of their stories. Winston and BondGraham treat episodes with a granularity that is a strength of the book. The opportunism and hypocrisy are often galling if not surprising, but the authors break newer ground by chronicling what happened after the [federal] monitor came in. Every city contemplating the future of its police force could use a book like this.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Devastating and illuminating. Winston and BondGraham chronicle, in excruciating detail, just how extraordinary the injustice must become before the arc finally begins to bend the other way. It’s an effort worthy of immense recognition —let the Pulitzer Prize buzz commence.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“An explosive, gut-wrenching narrative account of brutality and corruption in the Oakland Police Department. . . what the Riders got away with for so long will shock some readers, devastate others, and leave everyone with aching knowledge. . . a must-read for anyone interested in criminal justice reform and a book that easily threads the needle between nonfiction journalism and true crime.”
—Aryssa Damron, 2024 Selection Committee Chair, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence

"A fiercely argued case that the police can’t be trusted to police themselves—and that such policing is essential." 
—Kirkus Reviews

“On its face, the story pits the Riders’ “bad cops” against Batt, a “good cop” who did the right thing under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. But without negating anyone’s agency or moral culpability, Winston and BondGraham show how it’s ultimately less about the individual will of the officers than what the system they work within condones—and encourages…The book doubles as a rich political history of Oakland, the birthplace of the Black Panthers and a city that has been repeatedly devastated by austerity and racist policies….Reading this feels sort of like watching the beginning of a horror movie: you suspect that something awful is coming, even as the characters remain unaware.” 
—Bolts Magazine

“The Riders Come Out at Night is an incredible piece of journalism. The story in these pages is both captivatingly told and remarkably researched.  Although its focus is the police department in Oakland, CA., its significance is national.  This book should be required reading for every elected official and police chief in every city in the United States.” 
—Counterpunch 

“In harrowing detail, Winston and BondGraham describe the terror that Batt said Oaklanders endured at the hands of the Riders, as well as the ostracism Batt faced when he refused to honor the “blue wall of silence” that has long characterized cop culture. . . . Consent decrees have been used to improve policing in cities such as Detroit and New Orleans, but they are expensive to administer and don’t always work. Winston and BondGraham show how the Oakland police resisted the required reforms at every turn.” 
—The Atlantic

“The reader is left wanting not so much to petition a legislature or file a lawsuit as to throw a brick. . . . The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover Up in Oakland is investigative journalists Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham’s deep dive into the brutal history of the Oakland, Calif., criminal legal system—one dare not refer to it as a criminal “justice” system after this searing exposé." 
The Washington Post

“Reporters Winston and BondGraham debut with a comprehensive look at why the Oakland, Calif., police department has been under federal oversight for two decades, longer than any other department in the country…In granular detail, the authors describe the fits and starts of the department’s efforts at reform, taking note of improvements in diversity training and transparency, as well as fatal police shootings of unarmed suspects, a botched SWAT team raid that resulted in four officers’ deaths, and other scandals.” 
—Publisher’s Weekly

"As thrilling as the best noir fiction, The Riders Come Out at Night lays bare the horrors of police brutality with careful and unflinching courage. It stands to inform one of America’s most urgent debates, providing insight into the culture of a police department in freefall." 
—Whiting Foundation, 2021 Creative Nonfiction Grant Jury

“A culture of corruption and violence keeps flourishing despite repeated good faith efforts to stop the bad apples, who continue to show up, generation after generation, to spoil the barrel. And yet the authors make a case for civilian oversight by presenting civilians—civil rights lawyers, community activists, grieving parents of those killed by police—as the heroes of their stories. Winston and BondGraham treat episodes with a granularity that is a strength of the book. The opportunism and hypocrisy are often galling if not surprising, but the authors break newer ground by chronicling what happened after the [federal] monitor came in. Every city contemplating the future of its police force could use a book like this.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Devastating and illuminating. Winston and BondGraham chronicle, in excruciating detail, just how extraordinary the injustice must become before the arc finally begins to bend the other way. It’s an effort worthy of immense recognition —let the Pulitzer Prize buzz commence.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“An explosive, gut-wrenching narrative account of brutality and corruption in the Oakland Police Department. . . what the Riders got away with for so long will shock some readers, devastate others, and leave everyone with aching knowledge. . . a must-read for anyone interested in criminal justice reform and a book that easily threads the needle between nonfiction journalism and true crime.”
—Aryssa Damron, 2024 Selection Committee Chair, Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence

"A fiercely argued case that the police can’t be trusted to police themselves—and that such policing is essential." 
—Kirkus Reviews

“On its face, the story pits the Riders’ “bad cops” against Batt, a “good cop” who did the right thing under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. But without negating anyone’s agency or moral culpability, Winston and BondGraham show how it’s ultimately less about the individual will of the officers than what the system they work within condones—and encourages…The book doubles as a rich political history of Oakland, the birthplace of the Black Panthers and a city that has been repeatedly devastated by austerity and racist policies….Reading this feels sort of like watching the beginning of a horror movie: you suspect that something awful is coming, even as the characters remain unaware.” 
—Bolts Magazine

“The Riders Come Out at Night is an incredible piece of journalism. The story in these pages is both captivatingly told and remarkably researched.  Although its focus is the police department in Oakland, CA., its significance is national.  This book should be required reading for every elected official and police chief in every city in the United States.” 
—Counterpunch 

“In harrowing detail, Winston and BondGraham describe the terror that Batt said Oaklanders endured at the hands of the Riders, as well as the ostracism Batt faced when he refused to honor the “blue wall of silence” that has long characterized cop culture. . . . Consent decrees have been used to improve policing in cities such as Detroit and New Orleans, but they are expensive to administer and don’t always work. Winston and BondGraham show how the Oakland police resisted the required reforms at every turn.” 
—The Atlantic

“The reader is left wanting not so much to petition a legislature or file a lawsuit as to throw a brick. . . . The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover Up in Oakland is investigative journalists Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham’s deep dive into the brutal history of the Oakland, Calif., criminal legal system—one dare not refer to it as a criminal “justice” system after this searing exposé." 
The Washington Post

“Reporters Winston and BondGraham debut with a comprehensive look at why the Oakland, Calif., police department has been under federal oversight for two decades, longer than any other department in the country…In granular detail, the authors describe the fits and starts of the department’s efforts at reform, taking note of improvements in diversity training and transparency, as well as fatal police shootings of unarmed suspects, a botched SWAT team raid that resulted in four officers’ deaths, and other scandals.” 
—Publisher’s Weekly

"As thrilling as the best noir fiction, The Riders Come Out at Night lays bare the horrors of police brutality with careful and unflinching courage. It stands to inform one of America’s most urgent debates, providing insight into the culture of a police department in freefall." 
—Whiting Foundation, 2021 Creative Nonfiction Grant Jury