When I was a cop in Baltimore, I kind of assumed I was the only active police officer going for a PhD at one fo them fancy graduate schools. I wasn’t.
I’ve also assumed I’m the only former Baltimore police officer to write a book based on time in the Eastern District. I’m not.
I’m not certain why I only heard about Daniel Shanahan’s Badges, Bullets, & Bars recently. Professor Edith Linn (retired NYPD) told me about it at the ASC conference in St. Louis. She’s written a great book herself, Arrest Decisions. In it, she quantifies many of the points about arrest discretion I make in my book.
I’ve ordered Badges, Bullets, and Bars and look forward to reading it. You can read the 1st chapter here. It seems pretty hard core.
The book is dedicated to:
“All the excellent Law Enforcement officers who shortened their careers by crossing the thin blue line and venturing into the wrong territory; sometimes into criminal territory. Therefore permanently tarnishing their badge, reputation, family, and all the good that badge stands for. This book is for the police officers that could not find their way back, wanted to make a difference, and unfortunately, could have.”
Yikes! I imagine most police stayed far away from Shanahan. The stories of mentally unstable cops are legendary and usually great for a laugh… until somebody gets hurt.
But I’ll withhold further judgment till I read his book. He certainly does not seem like a man you would want to cross.
You know, if you like police books, there’s a great web site: Police-writers.com. If I checked it more often, I would have know allthe books written by Baltimore police officers.
I personally know Dan Shanahan and you could not ask fora nicer guy or a better friend. Crossing him may be a mistake, I have never been on his bad side for more then a few days.
I worked in Eastern Distict and know or knew more then a few of the officers in that district.