At age fifty, who would quit a
well-respected administrative job in the non-profit world to take a
seventy-five percent reduction in salary to wear a uniform that some people see
as a symbol of oppression and others see as a target to shoot at? The who is
Mark Johnson. In Apprehensions
&Convictions: Adventures of a 50-year-old Rookie Cop, Johnson tells not
only who, but also why and what happens as the result of his unorthodox
decision. He tells it well.
The author goes into detail about
what it is like to discover the body of someone who died weeks before. He talks
about getting sucker punched and forced to fight. He also explains why cops
don’t lose fights. Whether it is a
high speed chase at midnight or responding to a domestic dispute call where the
victim as well as the perpetrator may at any moment turn on the cop who is
trying to help, Johnson gives a description that may give you goose bumps or
make you sweat.
The authenticity and honesty with
which he writes is remarkable. If
you write about cops or the sort of people who deal with cops frequently, this
is a book that should be read and kept as a reference. You can put it right
next to Adam Plantinga’s 400 Things Cops
Know.
The perfect companion to my recent stint in the citizen's police academy. Thanks for writing about it.
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting, Warren. I'll have to look into it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting information.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of a police department that hired people for patrol officers when they were this old, but obviously someone must. I believe in this case it was Mobile.
I have to admit I'm a bit disheartened to think that the United Way, a nonprofit charity, pays people four times as much as a beginning police officer. Most of us think of police work as solid middle class jobs, paying a living wage.