Police and Law Enforcement Books

Mind numbingly dry - and a bit self serving. Yet another book about policing with an overly long intoduction to policing; which includes the ubiquitous sermons about Vollmer, Wilson, and Goldstien.

Long chapters with endless sidebars, figures, and charts.

If a student (or promotion hopeful) has not read any other books first then this may not seem so boring.

Good information - just not presented in a very cognitive way (not presented as a text book, more as a thesis paper).

This book will remain a staple on promotional exams until someone writes one that is more condusive to learning.

Of course all this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

I am an applicant at a relatively near-by police department to become a police officer, and have sought out information from all types of sources within the last 8 months or so to help me in my preparation for tests and the academy long in advance. I bought this book, along with a similar guide by ARCO. I found the other guide to be much more informative and helful. I expected a great deal from the McGraw-Hill version of the Police Preparatory Guide seeing as how they have an amazing reputation in history with all types of educational textbooks. Though the guide is helpful, I found myself disappointed by the lack of detail within the book. If you are an individual who has absolutely no idea where to begin in the process of trying to obtain a career in law enforcement, then this probably is not the BEST source that you can find. I know that I've found better.

Police Brutality Opposing Viewpoints contains information on every kind of police brutality. You get the opinion of numerous people on the many types of police brutality. There are first-hand accounts and suggestions from scholars. It goes in-depth into some of the most known police brutality situations and looks at them from a whole different view. There are many possible solutions to the problems in our law enforcement division. It's a great book to have if you have ever wondered what happens behind closed doors in the police force.

Very interesting book however I was confused by the book I was led to believe the whole book would be about stories and poems about justice and police way of life. The author threw in boys about love, men staring at his girl and other items that threw me off, should have use those stories for another book.

This work is o.k., especially for 1984, but he listened to some of my criticisms AND included my work in his latest book, essentially an updated and expanded version of this tome. If you are a collector, get this...if not, get Melanson's "The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency" instead.
Vince Palamara
Secret Service expert, History Channel, author of 2 books, in over 32 other author's books, etc.

I found this book to be helpful in writing a resume. It covered a varity of jobs.

My Great-great Grandfather's book describes his time from his days as a beat cop to his last day on the job as supervisor of the police department of New York City. In the pages you will find notable and notorious historical figures such as Edgar Allen Poe, Mayor Fernando Wood (Wash arrested him), Lillian Russell, Jay Gould, and Boss William Tweed. You will also find first hand accounts of the draft riots, opium dens, and the police wars in New York.

Recollections is a very long and sometimes tedious work. To get a glimpse of a time referred to, somewhat mistakenly, as the "Golden Age" there are few books other than Recollections that spit out New York City history in every dirty, sordid, amazing detail.

The author gives many anecdotes of his life as a police officer in Wichita,Kansas. There is also a section of general law enforcement information with tips for the reader on how to interact if he or she has encounters with the police as well as tips on driver safety,personal safety and home security.

I've only read ten pages so far, and already am loving this book. Sheriff Joe gives me hope that not all politicians are in it for themselves, and that it is still possible for our law enforcement to carry out the people's wishes, rather than focusing on special interest and big business.

We gave this book as a birthday gift. My brother lives in Montana and has heard about sheriff Joe and admires what he has achieved here in Arizona. So.......we felt it would be the perfect gift. He loves it and has shared it with friends to read. We, too admire Sheriff Joe and just wish there were more like him!

Ann Mesa, Az

I have been following the Joe Arpaio/Maracopa County Jail story for several years, and have been a big fan of his common-sense approach to law enforcement. The tales of the drug war, border enforcement, and fighting the bureaucracy were extremely entertaining. I was frustrated that he never got to put Paris Hilton in one of his chain-gangs, but my guess is she will stay out of southern Arizona until Joe retires.

And then we got to chapter eleven...politics. The sheriff and Senator John McCain do not like each other, I get it. But was the timing of the book just coincidentally in the final stretch of the presidential campaign? Maybe, but the suspicion casts a negative shadow on an otherwise fascinating story. Joe, I wish you'd left politics out of your book just as you've tried to keep them out of your job.

Joe's Law: America's Toughest Sheriff Takes on Illegal Immigration, Drugs and Everything Else That Threatens America

I truly enjoyed this book. Of course, Joe is one of my idols. With him we can get this county back in order, He is the most courageous person that has been in this office as Sheriff since I have been in Phoenix (Maricopa County) Arizona. (1979). Keep up the good work.

This book is well written.

A must read for all law enforcement agencies and politicians, especially democrats!! We need more Sheriff Joes.

This entire book is disgusting. The facts are skewed in every case to favor the CRIMINAL. Folks, when someone has a gun and has hurt someone else or is threating to hurt a cop, HE IS A CRIMINAL. Favorable reviews of this book are disturbing. Remember who you call when you need help. Remember who you call when a drunk kills your wife on the highway. Remember who you call when your sister gets raped. Remember who you call when you are in 7-11 and a meth-head robs the place and kills your daughter. You call police. You call them because WE do something you can't. Serve and protect. DON'T BUY THIS BOOK

The funny thing about this book is, three years ago I would have believed every single word. Now I know better. The man who shot my friends father, and killed three of his friends is in this book. If his life was justifiably taken, then how many others in this book were as well.

It is a noble thing to point out injustice, but it does no service to anyone, INCLUDING and especially the victims, to not have researched the facts beforehand. A list of names means nothing if it is not well researched. This book was most definitely NOT well researched.

The authors should be ashamed. They have done more harm than good, both for people who want to know the truth, and for people who really have been victims of police brutality.

I am disappointed to see that the authors of this book do not have enough honest interest in their own campaign to actually research the facts they provide. When trying to alert the public to a problem, honesty and transparency are always the best policies.

This book is neither honest nor transparent- it only gives a score of vague descriptions of circumstances that lack all the necessary detail to properly view the case, but are tuned to deliver the one message: the cops killed someone. To the authors of this book, it does not matter whether that someone was an innocent child, or a man with a gun shooting everyone in sight.

Their sole goal is to condemn the cops, whether or not they were at fault. I suggest that next time they publish under the title 'Down with all police', which will cause less confusion and bring their point across much more clearly.

I am amazed that the executive director Amnesty International gave a favourable review of this book. It is very disappointing and seriously undermines the credibility of the organisation. Do they jump to support anyone who cries 'Discrimination!' without ever checking the story?

The book stresses that the overwhelming majority of the 'victims' belonged to racial minorities. The fight of such minorities for equal treatment is just, but this book does nothing to help it. It stops at the primitive, barbaric act of stirring up hatred. How does that do any good? How does teaching people that 'all cops are murderers, all dark-skinned people are innocent' advance communication at all? It is as ridiculous a bias as the racial profiling these minorities fight against everyday.

Very disappointing.

What a deceitful book.

I'm a cop featured in this book.

If my story is here, this book is not based in fact.

My story says... http://stolenlives.org/read/index.php?action=show§ion=area_washington_state.xml&display=WASHINGTON+STATE&area=51

November 25, 1998. Lakewood:
Mr. Lambertsen was shot by Pierce County Sheriff's Deputy Joe McDonald. He died at the hospital. Authorities claim Mr. Lambertsen's wife called 911 to report that her husband was threatening to shoot himself and police with his shotgun. Police arrived and shot him, claiming he refused to drop the shotgun and aimed it at the officers. The prosecutor ruled the shooting justifiable. Mr. Lambertsen is survived by his wife, Sue Marie Lambertsen

The call came out as a suspect armed with a shotgun was threatening his pregnant wife with a shotgun. His small child was also present. His wife is the one who called.

As the police were enroute he advised his neighbors he was going to "shoot it out" with the police and to stay in their homes.

The short of it is, is that he advanced on me and another officer after we arrived. We were 50 yards from his mobile home when he exited with his shotgun pointed at us.

My partner yelled at him to drop his weapon.

We retreated to cover. When he continued advancing on our enclosed position with his shotgun still pointed toward us I fired once stopping him.

Brutality on my part....I think not.

I know of the other incidents in this book involving my department and they are similarly unfairly included in this book.

There are as the saying goes "bad apples" but please do some research.

Anyone who has given blanket kudos to this book is one of the bad apples who now has no credibility at all.

This book is part of the problem not part of the solution.

Don't waste your money.

I only wish I had known this book was published when it was.

Kaylyn Cotton-Dobie, 34, murdered by two Reno police officers on March 24, 1999. Kaylyn was my ex-husband's sister and I knew her very well - since she was a teenager. Facts about Kaylyn: she joined the military after high school with her boyfriend on the "buddy" system. They subsequently married and had a daughter. Her husband decided he didn't want to be married anymore and they divorced. Kaylyn was smart, funny, thoughtful, hardworking and a devoted mother. She was not a criminal, she was not violent and she was not suffering from a mental condition - she had an argument with one of her neighbors that was loud and the police were called. They shot her in the kitchen of her apartment, in front of her daughter. Point blank in the chest. What we believe happened is she made a sudden movement and the police shot her - the story given to the press was a cover up. The stab wounds to the police officers were supposedly superficial, not even requiring stitches...I don't believe for a second they received anything more than scratches, if that. When I tried to get answers from the Reno police they kept reading me the Department's Public Relations story. Kaylyn's MURDER is included in this book.