Rating: 
Summary: Engaging
Review: This book gives you a good look into what the people on our police forces go through every day of their lives. Its enough to make a person wonder why anyone would ever decide to do this job.
Rating: 
Summary: fun, scary, and educational
Review: This book is the result of 125 Chicago policemen sitting down with Prof. Connie Fletcher of Loyola University at Chicago. In order to give them the freedom to speak without fear of being transferred for political reasons, the names of the policemen interviewed are at the end of chapter, without identifying which policeman was responsible for each excerpt. This is NOT a book for the faint-hearted. It should transform the most hopeless pacifist into a gun owner, if there is any possibility at all. The chapter on home invasions, in particular, is terrifying in its descriptions of the sorts of sadistic brutality done to people inside their homes.This is a book worth reading more for what it says about how Chicago police officers see the world, then for any sort of statistical evidence about crime. At times, in our anger at police as soldiers of an oppressive system, we tend to forget that the police get a very jaundiced view of humanity, because what they spend most of their time doing is cleaning up the pathological part of our society. This is a book for reminding us HOW they see the world, and hopefully, it can make us a little more understanding as to why certain attitudes are so common among big city police officers. The least gruesome chapter was the one on organized crime, and contains some very worrisome statements that makes me suspect that there is more than a totalitarian political ideology or simple-minded idealism pushing gun control: "With an Outfit murder, the car can be seen; it doesn't make any difference. If they felt like it, they could throw the firearm down next to the body and walk away. They have a source for weapons, an illegal source that provides them with weapons that can't be traced."[p. 316] "The Chicago Outfit controls the unions. Because of that, they're into everything. Chicago controls a big chunk of Hollywood. They don't control the corporations, they don't control the directors and the producers per se, they don't control the actors and actresses. But all the support -- all the catering, the lighting, fixtures -- the outfit that supplies stuff for the movies is not going to be an accidental supply house. The lighting and fixtures -- and everything that moves and walks and talks to cause that movie to be produced -- is probably going to be owned outright or by a fictiously formed blind trust by members of the Outfit."[p. 310] Especially in light of the successful prosecutions of judges in Chicago several years ago, the following passage seems to be quite plausible: "Everybody can understand and get along quite well, it seems, knowing that our circuit court judges on the state and local levels can be bought. It doesn't seem to excite anybody. People in law enforcement could give you a list -- if you went and just talked to all the people, especially the people that deal with these guys, like the people in the Detective Division -- you could amass yourself a long list of the attorneys that pay off judges and long list of the dirty judges too.... "However, that's just peanuts, and people don't seem to be too excited about it. If they were, they'd demand that something be done about it, and they don't. But if you expand that, then, and show that our government is loaded with senators and congressmen and U.S. judges that are just as nefarious, just as crooked -- especially congressmen that owe their allegiances to neighborhoods in big cities -- you know, that would do some serious damage to the national psyche, I think. If we get away from the Chicago-New York-Philadelphia mentality, put yourself in Iowa or Nebraska, it would, I think, bother people of goodwill if the seriousness of it were known."[pp. 327-328]
Rating:
Summary: TRULY REALISTIC.
Review: THIS BOOK IS VERY REALISTIC, BEING A FIVE YEAR VETRAN, IVE BEEN IN SEVERAL SHOOTINGS AND OTHER HAIR RAISING EXPERIENCES. I ALSO HAVE MY CRITICISMS OF SOCIETY AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. THIS BOOK WAS LIKE SITTING DOWN AND LISTENING TO MYSELF AND COWORKERS SHOOT THE BULL. WHAT ALLOWS THE REALISM IS THE STORIES ARE UNEDITED RIGHT FROM THE COPS MOUTH, WITH THE POOR VERBAGE,PROFANITY,PREJUDICES AND LACK OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS THAT IS REAL TO POLICE WORK IT ALSO CONVEYS THE MESSAGE THAT THE MAJORITY OF POLICE DO CARE AND WILL GO THAT EXTRA MILE FOR A TRUE VICTIM. THERE IS NO SUGAR COATING, OR GLORY STORIES, JUST DOWN TO EARTH CONVERSATION IF YOU LIKE SITTING DOWN LISTENING TO REAL COP STORIES, OR IF YOU DONT LIKE COPS I THINK YOU MAY WALK AWAY WITH A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW. EASY READING AND HUMEROUS........
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating look into the mean streets
Review: This compilation of interviews in the words of genuine Chicago cops was put together by the sister of one, which gave her an entree into the "closed society" of law enforcement. Most of the officers she spoke with "work or have worked" in the city's Area Six, which encompasses everything from the notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects to the glittering upscale Gold Coast along the lakeshore. Yet crime is a constant, as it has been ever since human beings began to develop a society more complex than that of the cave-based clan. These officers have seen it all, and their cynicism is evident, yet the knowledge they've gained is broad and fascinating. Have you ever wondered how the Mafia (called in Chicago "the Outfit") is organized? Whether there are still any old-fashioned professional burglars? How a sex criminal or a serial killer thinks? These cops know, and they tell all. They are, of course, cynics, and the closing prediction of one Mob "expert" on where organized crime is probably heading seems to have been proved wrong; but altogether the book is an invaluable resource for mystery writers, social scientists, and police groupies. (Also read the author's "Pure Cop.")
Rating:
Summary: Glimpses of Evil
Review: This is a great read if you want to understand the harms people do to each other. Great reality check! It also gives me a greater understanding of law inforcement. Anyone who does not like police officers should read this book to see the kind of things they must deal and cope with in their profession. Some stories are disturbingly real.
Rating:
Summary: Glimpses of Evil
Review: This is a great read if you want to understand the harms people do to each other. Great reality check! It also gives me a greater understanding of law inforcement. Anyone who does not like police officers should read this book to see the kind of things they must deal and cope with in their profession. Some stories are disturbingly real.
Rating:
Summary: What Cops Know - The Review
Review: What Cops Know is a book with hundreds of true short stories straight from the mouths of real life cops. To the streets to undercover sting operations, these cops dish out the dirt about criminals. One reason I liked this book is that it told tales of murder, conspiracies, and drug rings, leaving out no information. Through this book I discovered how criminals, and drug lords work, and why they do the things they do. The reason I chose to read this book is so I could have some more light shed on the job of a cop. The only thing I knew about cops is from movies, and T.V. With this book I heard it straight from the source. These officers' stories put me right in the squad car with them during their high-speed chases and undercover jobs. These stories showed the grim reality of this world, and cruel nature that is people. I now know how these criminals, rapists, and thieves operate. Cops tell stories of interrogation of eyewitnesses and prime suspects. Another aspect of this book that most would like to read is the stories about crooked cops. Crooked cops are what should be feared, they have the power of the law on their side and they have the choice to abuse it if they want. I would recommend this book to a friend and I would tell them that this book will make have a different perspective on the life of a cop. I know it did that for me.
Rating:
Summary: What Cops Know - The Review
Review: What Cops Know is a book with hundreds of true short stories straight from the mouths of real life cops. To the streets to undercover sting operations, these cops dish out the dirt about criminals. One reason I liked this book is that it told tales of murder, conspiracies, and drug rings, leaving out no information. Through this book I discovered how criminals, and drug lords work, and why they do the things they do. The reason I chose to read this book is so I could have some more light shed on the job of a cop. The only thing I knew about cops is from movies, and T.V. With this book I heard it straight from the source. These officers' stories put me right in the squad car with them during their high-speed chases and undercover jobs. These stories showed the grim reality of this world, and cruel nature that is people. I now know how these criminals, rapists, and thieves operate. Cops tell stories of interrogation of eyewitnesses and prime suspects. Another aspect of this book that most would like to read is the stories about crooked cops. Crooked cops are what should be feared, they have the power of the law on their side and they have the choice to abuse it if they want. I would recommend this book to a friend and I would tell them that this book will make have a different perspective on the life of a cop. I know it did that for me.
Rating:
Summary: Inside the Head of a Cop!
Review: What Cops know: Today's Police Tell the Inside Story of their Work on America's Streets will make you feel like you have entered the head of police officer as you see the world through his eyes. The book is a collection of short essays or stories told by cops all over the United States. Their stories will surprise you, disgust you, and make you look over your shoulder a little more often. This book is a must read for anyone intereseted in joining law enforcement.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Jolliff this is What Cops Know
Review: What Cops Konw is an intresting, realistic look at the job of a police man from their point of view. This book has it all; action, violence, and excitement. This book is fun to read and is perfect for someone high school.
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