The Guardians of Justice - Softcover

Solar, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798315139805

Publisher: Independently published, 2025

Synopsis

“The job of the police cannot be done in a free society if the people can see what the police sometimes have to do to maintain order.” Egon Bittner

Long before anyone ever heard about “Community Oriented Policing,” law enforcement officers were of a different breed. They didn’t engage in complex “Problem Solving,” they simply identified the individual responsible for the problem and took action, sometimes brutal action, to fix it.

They saw themselves as warriors on crime and protectors of their communities. Criminal perpetrators were the enemy, a threat to public safety and a plague on innocent law-abiding citizens. The professional law enforcement officer prowled the streets seeking out criminal prey and provided an authoritarian omni-presence that deterred criminal behavior.

This is the first book in a series that explores the complexities and nuisances of policing and law enforcement prior to the current "war on cops."

Here the main characters are introduced and developed who will be featured in subsequent books in this series. First there is Jim Murphy, a new rookie officer who faces the life changing challenges of gaining respect and acceptance into the policing sub-culture. He becomes infatuated with a more experienced woman, Melissa Rhodes who dumps her abusive and controlling husband and begins a new career as a police officer, surprising everyone with her resilience.

There is Mike Temple, a no nonsense street cop who instills fear in the criminal element and confidence in those who appreciate a more direct approach to maintaining order.

Joe McCann is a veteran and wise detective commander who knows exactly how to play the game of "cat and mouse" with a the dirt-bags who roam his streets and a justice system that often impedes his efforts.

Byron Crawford is the new police chief, a competent and dedicated law enforcement leader who directs the agency, disciplines his officers well, and wrestles with a mayor who is more concerned with maintaining his power than doing what is best for the community. He runs afoul of an ambitions U.S. Attorney out to make a name for herself using racial tension to her advantage.

Bert Lowell is an old time street cop who has his own way of doing things, he's not interested in adapting to new realities, he has his ways of getting things done and is admired for his tough minded street sence.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick J. Solar, Ph.D., is a Professor of Criminal Justice and a retired police officer. His debut novel draws directly on his experience in both worlds, bringing an authenticity to the streets, squad rooms, and moral dilemmas of The Guardians of Justice that only a cop-turned-scholar could provide. He resides in Illinois but lives in Northern Wisconsin.

From the Back Cover

Patrick J. Solar spent years on both sides of the thin blue line — as a street cop and as a Professor of Criminal Justice. The Guardians of Justice is the story he was uniquely positioned to tell: a raw, unflinching portrait of policing in the 1980s, when officers saw themselves as warriors and the lines between justice and misconduct were easier to cross than anyone liked to admit. Solar writes with the ear of someone who lived it and the eye of someone who studied it.

From the Inside Flap

Patrick J. Solar, Ph.D., brings a rare double authority to The Guardians of Justice — that of a career academic in criminal justice and a retired police officer who walked the same streets his characters patrol. Set in the gritty, drug-saturated landscape of 1980s Chicago, this novel draws on Solar's firsthand knowledge of policing culture, the unwritten codes officers live by, and the moral weight of decisions made in dark alleys and dim squad rooms. A story that neither glorifies nor condemns, The Guardians of Justice asks the questions only an insider can ask.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798315139805
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 275