What Cops Know: Cops Talk About What They Do, How They Do it, and What It Does to Them

Offers a distillation of police life and lore, drawing on the experiences of Chicago cops to present the often surprising knowledge they acquire and the methods they employ in their line of work

Fletcher, who teaches journalism at Loyola University (and whose sister is a police officer), here interviews 125 Chicago cops about such topics as working on the street; crimes involving violence, property, sex, narcotics; organized crime. Readers learn that one of the most difficult jobs in law enforcement is raiding the quarters of drug dealers, that even hardened veterans have a rough time restraining themselves when arresting child molesters, that the Mafia is now branching out into supplying body parts for transplant surgery. The police officers are forthright, the narrative seamless as the author makes her case that "what cops know isn't scientific, quantifiable, or statistical knowledge," but that they are "privy to special knowledge."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author, who teaches journalism at Loyola University of Chicago, interviewed 125 of that city's police officers to discover what their job is like both technically (how they deal with crime and criminals) and emotionally (how it affects them). Roughly 900 excerpts are grouped by topic, ranging from property crimes to organized crime. Excerpts are unsigned, but each section concludes with brief biographies of those quoted. This first-person, humorous, shocking, and at times sensational material effectively brings the reader inside police life, particularly in the chapters on "The Street" and "Narcotics." Loose organization and lack of scientific method limit the book's usefulness for criminal justice students--Anthony V. Bouza 's The Police Mystique ( LJ 4/1/90) provides a more thoughtful description and critique of police and the criminal justice system--but for the general reader it both satisfies curiosity and offers insight.
- Mary Jane Brustman, SUNY at Albany Libs.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.