Boot: An L.A.P.D. Officer's Rookie Year

In the tumultuous year encompassing the now infamous Rodney King beating, rookie police officer William Dunn, a "boot", was assigned to patrol the nine square miles that make up the Southwest Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. With twenty-five known street gangs and more than three thousand ex-cons, the Southwest Division was, in 1991, one of the most dangerous areas to police in the country.
An unforgettable account of one cop's life on the thin blue line, Boot is Dunn's story of his first year with the L.A.P.D. Dunn's gripping portrait of crime in L.A. offers important insight into what is wrong with our cities - and the way we police them.

In the post-Rodney King era, the LAPD is still cleaning up its image, and this account of a cop's first year in the City of Angels could contribute to achieving that goal. Dunn joined the force in 1990 and was assigned to the Southwest division, one of the city's hot spots, with 25 identified gangs, whose membership numbered in the thousands, and double the city's felony-arrest average. In the course of the book, it becomes clear that the average L.A. cop is not a sadist or a racist but a conscientious worker mindful that, even in a high-crime area, the majority of residents are poor people trying to live within the law and avoid being killed by the warfare in their streets. Not that Dunn doesn't encounter oddball and embittered colleagues, but he also finds many who want to protect and serve. Among the cases he deals with are petty crimes committed by teen boys and girls without hopes and dreams, plenty of not-overly-bright burglars and muggers and some very hard types. Dunn ends on a high note with an account of an unusually vicious murderer put away for life. An effective, forceful report.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Los Angeles police officer Dunn's memoir of his first year on the force walks the thin blue line between information and entertainment without deteriorating into gratuitous, self-serving cop rhetoric. Dunn, who served his first year in one of L.A.'s toughest neighborhoods, provides a thoughtful, articulate testimony to the stress, frustration, and excitement of police work as well as pondering L.A.'s gang crisis and the causes of crime. Dunn believes the department received a bad rap in the wake of the Rodney King beating in 1991 and offers his explanation of why police officers reacted to King as they did. He has a knack for storytelling and spins an account of one of his more gruesome and bizarre cases into a gripping mystery story. Ted Leventhal

This is a refreshingly unpretentious first-person account of a rookie cop's experiences on the mean streets of L.A. Dunn tells of his first days: learning the ropes from more experienced officers, feeling the rush of adrenaline when confronting dangerous situations, learning the codes and behaviors of street gangs, confronting the fact of death, and developing the uniquely strong bonds that exist among individuals working under hazardous conditions. What sets this apart from many other cop narratives is Dunn's avoidance of self-aggrandizement and his ability to portray incidents realistically and dramatically. This fast-paced book is recommended for popular collections.
-?Ben R. Harrison, East Orange P.L., N.J.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.