RoCo assistant DA pens book on criminal justice reform

Mar. 17—It's about changing the narrative. When Rogers County first assistant District Attorney Brian Surber put pen to paper to author his book "Injustice for All" he had one goal- to change the narrative around criminal justice reform.

In this book, Surber poses that criminal justice reform efforts are sweeping the nation, and the damage to society is alarming. And that while social justice is inundated with feelings, his book is filled with facts.

"The men and women of law enforcement have an impressive track record of success in protecting our communities; this book not only chronicles that success but documents exactly how that success was realized — and is now threatened," he said. "This was written from the collective experience of law enforcement and I certainly wrote the book with police officers and prosecutors in mind, but I intended the actual audience to be the public at large — everyone has a lot to lose from these reform efforts."

While the ideas in the book had been weighing on his mind for some time, Surber said the inspiration finally struck to write the book.

"So, I was on vacation with my wife and reading a book by F.A, Hayek, 'The Road to Serfdom.' Hayek outlined how post World War II efforts to promote socialist ideology and I noticed that the same playbook being used to promote criminal justice reform. The origin of the ideas and methods used to create public narratives were identical," Surber said. "I told my wife of the complete similarity and she encouraged me to write a book ... and I started outlining it the next morning. That's where the subtitle 'The (Familiar) Fallacies of Criminal Justice Reform' originated."

Surber added, "My entire goal of the book is to change the narratives surrounding criminal justice reform. Although it was a lot of work, the book was not difficult to write. The facts and historical record are a wrecking ball to notions of criminal justice reform."

The book, which will be available in print or electronic formats, is currently available for pre-order on Amazon and will be released March 20.

Brian Surber is currently the first assistant district attorney for the Twelfth Judicial District for Rogers, Mayes, and Craig Counties. Surber was formerly a special agent with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics assigned to the Tulsa office.

Surber graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1993 and from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1996. Surber has prosecuted thousands of narcotics cases and was the 2001-02 Association of Oklahoma Narcotic Enforcers State Prosecutor of the Year, the 2005 Distinguished Adjunct Faculty award winner for Northern Oklahoma College, the 2011-12 Association of Oklahoma Narcotics Enforcers State Officer of the Year, the 2012-13 recipient of Association of Oklahoma Narcotic Enforcers Outstanding Achievement award, and the 2015 Rogers County Co-Prosecutor of the Year.

He has also taught over two hundred (250) seminars in 13 states, primarily in the areas of the Fourth Amendment and narcotics laws. Surber also authored The Police Officer's Guide to the Fourth Amendment and Miranda, The Investigator's Guide to Search and Seizure as well as The Prosecutor's Guide to Fourth and Fifth Amendment Motions to Suppress. He is also the author of the Oklahoma Drug Prosecutor's Desk Reference.