Radley Prescott Balko is an American journalist, author, blogger, and speaker who writes about criminal justice, the drug war, and civil liberties. In 2022, he began publishing his work on Substack after being let go from The Washington Post, where he had worked as an opinion columnist for nine years. Balko has written several books, including The Rise of the Warrior Cop and The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist.

Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces is a 2013 book written by investigative journalist Radley Balko and focuses on the subject of militarization of police in the United States.